ACCESSING QUALITY EDUCATION

a group of children sitting around a table with books

Shining a light on early childhood literacy

Our donors have long been a pillar of support for the charity SHINE Children and Youth Services, especially their Reading Odyssey. This programme builds reading skills and confidence in disadvantaged children. CFS is commemorating 15 years of giving and this story is one of a three-part series that highlights the strong relationships CFS has fostered with charities over the years.While most children in Singapore are able to read when they start primary school, some have very limited literacy skills. This could be due to challenging personal circumstances or undiagnosed learning difficulties in their earlier years. The problem is that this limitation immediately sets them back from their peers academically.

CFS Donor Learning Trip Series: The transformative power of early intervention by the Dyslexia Association of Singapore

This initiative is part of CFS’s Donor Learning Trips, a series of engagement opportunities that enable donors to personally connect with charities and gain insights into how they support communities in need.Imagine not being able to read because the letters and words are mixed up. Imagine struggling to spell or write, being labelled slow and falling behind at school. These are the realities students with dyslexia face, realities that empathetic donors from CFS got to better understand during a visit to the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS).

Charitable Business professionals standing before a screen.

CFS Change Matters Series: Mens, Manus and Machina – How AI Empowers People, Institutions & the City in Singapore

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a disruptive influence on society, for good as well as ill – and there is a duty to provide a sense of hope, upfront, that humans will be able to prevail.That was the core message of the inaugural CFS Change Matters Series talk, “Mens, Manus and Machina – How AI Empowers People, Institutions & the City in Singapore”. It was delivered on 21 June 2023 by Professor Jinhua Zhao, Associate Professor of Transportation and City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Empowering Her Dream: International Women’s Forum Singapore Aids Young Fashion Designer’s Success

Denise Yeo was juggling two part-time jobs while studying full-time for a degree in Fashion Design & Textiles at LASALLE College of the Arts. So, she was overjoyed when she received an education grant from the International Women’s Forum Singapore (IWF). “The money meant I could divert more time to my studies,” says the 23-year-old student.Funding her degree has been a struggle. Her father is disabled in both legs and cannot work. Her mother works in a restaurant and Denise’s elder sister, who looks after their father, had to take out a loan from her Central Provident Fund savings to help Denise pay for her tuition fees.

A photo of individuals wearing face masks, posing together for a group picture

Accessing Quality Education: A Boost for the Last Leg

As a follow-up to our last story, we now take a look at children as the next generation, and how we can empower them through philanthropy to be further educated.Education is the great equaliser, as the old adage goes. Coined by American public education pioneer Horace Mann in 1848, education was seen as the tool for the disadvantaged to basically find better jobs and lift themselves out of poverty. For the last almost 200 years, that has remained largely true.

Accessing Quality Education: Beyond the Classroom Walls

The education of a generation is an extensive and complex undertaking.Consider the span of time it takes to bring a single individual from nursery and preschool, through the primary and secondary school levels to the various branches of tertiary education. This journey could range from at least 12 years to almost three decades for the dedicated academic.

a group of people sitting at a table with a group of children

4 Critical Educational Gaps for Disadvantaged Children & Youth in Singapore

While abilities and talents are distributed equally across the population, access to educational resources is often not. Children from low-income families are the ones who pay the price. Without the right educational opportunities, they underperform in school and end up with lower-paying jobs. Studies show that students from low-income families are more than four times as likely to be low performers than their affluent peers. (OECD, 2016) Without intervention, this cycle of income inequality will persist.The growing special needs community is also in need of our urgent attention. One key area that we highlight is the need for integration with mainstream students. There needs to be greater awareness about creating better school and work opportunities for this community while preparing them to function independently as adults.

#MyGivingJourney x Trina Liang-Lin: Investing in a sustainable future

#MyGivingJourney is a series by CFS to celebrate inspiring women and their work in the philanthropy sector. We are proud to feature Trina Liang-Lin, Managing Director at Templebridge Investments and Board of Director at CFS. Trina had a back to nature, farm to table experience growing up. Right up to the late 80s, her father’s family-owned farms in Lim Chu Kang, raising chickens, ducks and cultivating vegetables. That gave her a front row seat to the benefits of producing our own food and using natural resources thoughtfully.

#MyGivingJourney x Hauw Soo Hoon: Insuring the future for vulnerable students

#MyGivingJourney is a series by CFS to celebrate women and their work in philanthropy. This story features Hauw Soo Hoon, Programme Director at Ulu Pandan Stars and a member of CFS’s Programmes & Grants Committee. Hauw Soo Hoon has always loved mathematics. So when she discovered some students in her estate were struggling with the subject, getting just 15 marks out of 100, her heart plummeted. She wanted to help them and even get them to love numbers. An opportunity came through her grassroots contacts who were looking for someone to helm a programme to tutor children from rental flats and troubled families.

#MyGivingJourney x Nadia Ahmad Samdin: Changing the game for giving  

CFS’s #MyGivingJourney series portrays extraordinary women and their efforts in philanthropy. This story features Nadia Ahmad Samdin, CFS’s legacy giving ambassador and a woman who wears many hats. Many who donate to charity often ask: For every dollar they give, what good actually comes of it? Nadia Ahmad Samdin believes increasingly, we will be able to answer that. In a world where tracking usage is commonplace – from our phone use to carbon footprint– a data-driven approach to philanthropy could be a game-changer. The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) aligns with Nadia’s belief and strives to be a trustworthy organisation that is transparent and accountable.