Covid-19: Applications streamlined for youths to tap funds for projects to help society

SINGAPORE — Amid the Covid-19 crisis, a streamlined application process has been rolled out to enable young people to seek funds that can be used for ground-up initiatives to help with jobs, supporting vulnerable groups and the mental wellbeing of youths.

The revised application process for what is known as the Young ChangeMakers (YCM) grant includes a shortening of the lead-time for making an application ahead of the project’s proposed start — from at least six weeks to at least one week. The so-called Covid-19 edition of the grant application process began in March and runs until Dec 31.

Another key short-term revision to streamline the process, given the restrictions arising from the circuit breaker period, is that applicants are no longer required to perform at an “open mic” session to audition, in effect, as part of the application process. This also lasts until Dec 31.

All this relates to Singapore’s Youth Action Plan (YAP), an initiative launched last year that is designed to enable youths to highlight issues they care about and propose practical solutions.

Senior Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, Ms Sim Ann, also announced on Wednesday (May 27) that S$30 million from the National Youth Fund (NYF) will be set aside for the next five years for YAP initiatives.

The YAP is led by a panel co-chaired by Ms Sim and Mr Edward Chia, who is managing director of Timbre Group, which runs venues such as hawker centre Timbre+.

The panel started engaging youths in May last year and has sought the views of more than 400,000 youths. Of these, the panel engaged closely with nearly 70,000 youths in a process conducted with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the National Youth Council (NYC).

One of the key issues raised by the youths during this process was their employability and job opportunities — a concern made only far more uncertain by Covid-19 and the economic fallout from the circuit breaker period. The impact more broadly on the global economy adds to the difficulty, given that Singapore has long been dependent on trade as a major source of income.

Another prominent issue raised by the young people was the importance of mental wellbeing.

“We know that youths most of the time when they have an issue they tend to confide in their friends and when they do so, sometimes their friend might also not know how to react effectively, and that has led to more calls for the YAP to develop more peer support training among youths,” Mr Chia said.

To encourage youths to contribute to society during the Covid-19 outbreak, the YCM grant Covid-19 edition was launched in March so that disbursement of the funds will be faster.

Usually, it takes about two to three weeks for the grants to be disbursed. For the Covid-19 edition, up to 50 per cent of the approved grant will be disbursed upon approval within seven working days of the proposal being accepted.

The 16th NYC, which will commence its term in July, will also take over the implementation of the SG YAP from the panel. More details on its plans will be announced later.

CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this article, we reported that the National Youth Fund had launched S$30m in fresh funding. This is incorrect. The S$30m set aside for the Youth Action Plan is part of the existing National Youth Fund.