The Community Business’ ENGAGE Mentoring Programme comprises of 5 key components:
1. ‘Journey of Opportunity’ Action Day (8 April 2011) involved three key stages:
a) Tin Shui Wai: Corporate Volunteers (Mentors) were transported from the Central district to Tin Shui Wai and assigned to their teams and introduced to the young people (Mentees). This sets the context of the young people's situation for the Mentors.
b) University Visit: Mentors and Mentees travelled together in their teams to one of the four Universities participating in the day. Each University arranged the programme, providing the mentees with an overview of courses on offer, the opportunity to hear from current students and a first-hand experience of life on campus, including a tour of university accommodation.
c) Corporate Visit: The team visited one of four corporate offices. During the 3-hour visits, they were shown behind the scenes of a leading company and given a unique insight into the world of work.
2. Career Workshops & informal gathering (May - July) – Company volunteers organised Career Workshop to give the young people a taste of the world of work. For example, they spoke on topics relating to “Tips on how to write a good CV” and “Interview Etiquette”.
3. Online Mentoring Sessions (Apr- Nov) – In addition to face-to-face meetings, IBM kindly offered a virtual Mentoring Platform to Community Business for ENGAGE Hong Kong where Mentors and Mentees interacted virtually for one hour at least every 2 weeks (for the duration of the programme).
4. Summer Placement (July-Sept 2011) - All companies that participate in the ENGAGE programme are invited to provide summer work placements to youth who participate in the Action Day. The goal of the summer placements is to capitalise on the unique resources of the group of companies within this project, and provide another opportunity for the Youth to be exposed to the world of work. Summer placements are open to those aged 15 and above. Companies are invited to host one or more young people as paid or unpaid interns in their corporate offices for one week to one month. Companies are responsible for developing the programme activities and covering the youth’s basic expenses, including travel to and from the office and lunch.
5. Community Action Day (8 October) & Closing Ceremony (5 November 2011) - The final events of the programme served as an opportunity for Mentors and Mentees to give back to the community through a volunteering activity. Community Business partnered with Crossroads Foundation to put together an organic farming activity for Mentors and Mentees. Participants felt the activity gave them the opportunity to bond closer to their mentor / mentee.
Companies: Financial and in kind contributions: Allen & Overy, Baker & Mckenzie, Barclays Capital, Bossini, Cisco Systems, Crown Worldwide (HK) Limited, Drink Tea, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Heartware, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, IBM, Marks & Spencer, Peak Eye Offset Printing Limited, PepsiCo International Asia Pacific, The Prudential Assurance Company Limited, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, The Walt Disney Company (Asia Pacific) Limited.
To find out how your company can get involved in this project please contact Jenny Todd.
