KELY Support Group Appreciation Evening in Hong Kong!

Posted 23 May 2018 in Grantee Partner News   |   Share

On May 3, EMpower’s Development and Engagement Manager in Hong Kong, Jacqueline Chen, and Hong Kong Board member Maddy Foo, attended grantee partner KELY Support Group’s Appreciation Evening!

The evening began with a warming welcome note from the Board Chair of KELY followed by an informal session where two students shared their experience on KELY’s Open Door Work Placement Program that offers employment skills training and subsidized work placements to secondary students or recently graduated secondary school students in Hong Kong. The students, interviewed during the session, said the program gave them the opportunity to explore working in a sector of interest to them. Their biggest takeaway was the realization that “interns were at the bottom of the food chain”, but they were keen to prove themselves and learnt a lot during the 4-week work placement. Two industry partners currently offering placement opportunities to program participants, also shared their initial apprehension to hiring high school students, but how they later found the students to be independent and hardworking. Following the interview sessions, attendees were able to visit booths set up to showcase students’ work on “prevention education and harm reduction”.

The evening was a great success and a fantastic opportunity to hear first-hand how KELY’s programs have impacted young people!

KELY Support Group, based in Hong Kong, provides programs focused on prevention and intervention of alcohol and drug abuse to young people, particularly ethnic minorities and non-Chinese speaking youth, from low socio-economic backgrounds. Their programs are designed to tackle the common reasons for abuse including; lack of self-awareness, low self-esteem, peer pressure, unemployment, and discrimination through peer support, mentorship and leadership development. EMpower’s first grant to KELY Support Group supports their Coding for Life program, which will help 20 young people develop life skills and resilience as well as developing personalised web-based resources to share positive messages on drug and alcohol prevention that they can use to reach out to their peers at school.