Another Week Beyond – 2012

March 23, 2020

Dear Friends,

In cooperation with the Central Singapore Community Development Council, the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), we organised a talk on skills upgrading and employment-related resources provided by the government. 26 breadwinners filled up our classroom and we had to stop registration early in the week because places were taken up quickly. The enthusiasm and full attendance yesterday was great from a programme management point of view but sadly, it also indicated the sense of anxiety during these trying times.

Over the past month, we have been engaging our members and getting a grasp of how COVID-19 is impacting them. We gathered that it has hurt employment and household income. For more information on this, please click here for a short piece written by my colleague Stephanie. In response, we have been disbursing grocery vouchers and cash promptly from donations collected from our online appeal and are looking to providing more substantial help soon. Apart from providing financial aid to keep families stable and functioning, we will be supplementing the cost of retraining where needed.

Everyone listened intently during the 2.5 hour briefing and the majority found it a most encouraging experience. A young couple told me that they have always been trying to find a better job and was glad to learn of programmes to help them pick up skills based on their interest that would lead to work that plays to their strengths. They had never imagined that pathways into industries like aerospace and healthcare could be open for them.

An older man was glad to hear that as a union member he was entitled to a training subsidy on top of the government’s SkillsFuture retraining grant but he said it was in his experience that training could be cumbersome. He related how he had to go to 2 different offices before he met his career coach via video conferencing. He laughed as he recalled the experience because he was expecting to meet someone in person and it all felt most unfamiliar for him.

Nonetheless, we were glad that our members found the talk worthwhile as they were heartened learning how they could access training grants and other resources. They left the session feeling that it was a good start and we think it is because every time we feel included, we feel better about our world.

Wishing you health and peace of mind.

Sincerely,

Gerard

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is rather than as you think it should be. – Wayne. Dyer

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