Mr Mark Watt - Co-Founder and CEO of Whitelion,
Youth Sector Partners
Ladies and gentlemen
A very good morning to you. This is my first time attending the annual Podz Appreciation and Networking event. As I watched the video, I am very heartened to see selfless, passionate Singaporeans taking time out to befriend and guide our youth who are transiting out from institutional care. And I am told that these are but a handful among more than 300 mentors who had been in the programme over the past 5 years.
Introduction
The pilot Podz Youth Mentoring Programme was introduced in September 2006 as my Ministry recognised the need to support our youth in their reintegration after a period of institutional care.
Each year, more than 200 youth are discharged from Singapore Boys’ Home, Singapore Girls’ Home, Muhammadiyah Welfare Home and Pertapis Centre for Women and Girls.
To support them, our 5 partner agencies - Malay Youth Literary Association, the Association of Muslims Professionals, City Care Limited, Trybe (pronounced ‘tribe’) Limited and Lutheran Community Care Services actively recruit, train and support a dedicated group of mentors – ordinary people from all walks of life, but with extraordinary hearts.
In this community based programme, the mentor befriends each youth for 1 year – starting about 6 months before their discharge. The Podz Youth Mentoring Programme has offered strong post-care support to ease the transition of these youth back into the community upon discharge. The mentors have served as role models to steer these youth away from delinquent behaviours and engage them in pro-social activities.
Benefits of Mentoring
The 3 youth in the video-clip shared about their positive experiences on the mentoring programme. I was also told of a mentee who shared that the greatest benefit to him was the friendship he had built with his mentor; and they’ve been in contact for 4 years now! Other youth have expressed feeling encouraged about their future under the guidance of their mentors, and were more motivated to stay on the right path.
Challenges of Mentoring
Along with these success stories and positive experiences, we recognize that mentoring youth has its fair share of challenges. Sometimes, the discharged youth fall back to old ways and engage in unconstructive activities or hang out with negative peers; against the advice of the mentors.
Sometimes, you may wonder if your efforts are worthwhile or not. But be encouraged, a farmer does not reap the fruit of his labour immediately. Let me share with you a moving story my staff highlighted to me.
There was a mentor who met up with her mentee regularly in the initial few months of the programme. But halfway through, the mentee ignored her calls and text messages. This did not discourage the mentor who kept on trying to reach her over the next few months. One day, the mentee called her up and asked for help as she was chased out of the house by her mother. The mentor met up with the youth, visited the mother and arranged for a meeting for both of them. They met and reconciled with each other. Eventually, the mentee moved back home. The mentee was appreciative of her mentor’s efforts to be with her during the difficult times in her life and is, today, still in contact with her mentor after the programme has ended.
Key Announcements:
(i) Enhanced Podz Programme
The Podz Programme has been running for the past 5 years. From experience and feedback from mentors, we now know that some of our youth, coming from complex backgrounds, require more intensive support even after 1 year of mentoring.
In line with my Ministry’s effort to provide more support for youths to reduce their risk of re-offending upon discharge, I am pleased to introduce the Enhanced Podz Programme. There are two new elements in this model:- (i) the Podz agency coordinator will provide case management to the youth and family on a need basis; and (ii) for cases that require a longer mentoring period, the 1 year programme can be extended for up to an additional 6 months.
These revisions are in tandem with my Ministry’s effort to strengthen the post-care support for youth discharging from our Homes, and would be complementary to 2 new services we have recently offered: namely, vocational support and post-care case management. We believe that the Enhanced Podz model will strengthen the safety net for our youths and result in more positive outcomes.
(ii) Recognition Awards
For the first time since the launch of the Podz Mentoring Programme, special Awards will be given to our most Inspirational, Dedicated as well as Creative mentors. Many nominations were sent in by the Podz agencies and it was a tough call by the panel of judges to sieve through the submissions. I must say all of you, whether you win the award or not, deserve recognition as selfless role models!
Conclusion
Our most inspirational mentor, Pan Wei Hao, was himself formerly a resident of the Singapore Boy’s Home but he did not let that get him down. He is now a scholar and is pursuing his university degree. He is now doing his part and is giving back to society by mentoring other at-risk youths. He is a real role model and clearly an inspiration to our at-risk youths.
As I conclude, may I once again highlight a powerful message succinctly put across by one of our ex-residents, who has now become one of our active mentors: “You won’t know that just by lending a listening ear, you may actually make a lot of difference in a mentee’s life”.
Thank you for committing yourselves to this cause. May you continue on this journey of being Strangers Today but Friends Tomorrow. I wish you an enriching workshop and networking event today.