Targeted help for vulnerable groups to secure jobs
Initiative aims to help 300 a year through job coaching and urging firms to hire more inclusively
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People who sleep rough, those with mental health conditions and other vulnerable groups will be able to get more help in securing employment through a new initiative to build a more inclusive workforce here.
Over the next three years, the programme aims to help 300 people annually to get jobs by providing them with job coaching, encouraging human resource professionals to practise inclusive hiring and supporting businesses that offer job opportunities to people from these groups.
The initiative is a partnership between SBF Foundation - the social impact arm of Singapore Business Federation - Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI), the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC) Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and Tote Board.
The four partners signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday, with the initiative aiming to raise $1 million annually through SBF Foundation's Employability Fund, on top of seed funding of $800,000 from SBF Foundation and the Tote Board.
It will help four vulnerable groups in society - those who sleep rough, long-term unemployed parents and caregivers of at-risk children, people with mental health conditions and women facing challenges.
SBF Foundation has also appointed four programme partners who have ground experience working with the different groups, namely Daughters Of Tomorrow, Singapore Association for Mental Health, New Hope Community Services, and Shine Children and Youth Services.
The programme partners will identify individuals and provide them with the help they need to get job-ready. For example, they could give them the opportunity to work with job coaches.
Social workers or case managers from the programme partners will also ensure that other support needed to seek and sustain employment is provided, such as by taking care of their emotional needs and helping with permanent housing arrangements.
SBF Foundation will also encourage businesses to offer job opportunities under the initiative, and SHRI will reach out to human resource professionals to encourage them to adopt more inclusive hiring practices.
SBF Foundation has provided job support to homeless individuals since 2017, and to unemployed parents of at-risk children since 2020.
It provided 1,019 people in total with employability support from 2017 to last year, with 627 getting jobs. SBF Foundation chairman Hsieh Fu Hua said the four partners in the initiative share a common goal to engage and enable the business community to uplift the lives of vulnerable individuals and their families.
He said: "We believe that people are at the heart of businesses. A compassionate and proactive business community will create a more sustainable and resilient socio-economic landscape in Singapore."
Chief executive of e2i Caryn Lim said: "Helping our vulnerable workers with gainful employment provides them with a sense of purpose and has many intangible benefits."
