In April 2020, the school started “The Living Community” or TLC, a social impact accelerator programme that gives students a platform to initiate projects that meet real needs in communities. TLC has seen a growing number of students sign up for this programme to kickstart their social and community initiatives. The students who have been involved with these initiatives have shared that they find meaning and fulfilment in alleviating social issues, and are motivated to be socially responsible consumers themselves.

 

Since its inception last year, TLC has supported more than 20 student projects involving over 350 students from different diplomas and benefited over 600 individuals from the community. Our students have also worked with over 12 industry partners to date.

 

Through TLC, the school hopes to inspire students to initiate social impact projects outside of their curriculum, and to work with partners and the community to bring their ideas to life. The students’ projects will be supported through seed funding and industry sponsorships. A panel of faculty mentors with multi-disciplinary expertise are available to guide the students, who have access to a network of community partners and mentors. TLC will also help our students to develop essential soft skills that will be relevant to their future profession, and it inculcates in our students the trait of big-heartedness, one of NP’s graduate outcomes.

Our observations are consistent with trends reported in surveys conducted in 2019 by Mediacorp and 2020 by the National Youth Council — that youths are becoming more socially conscious and responsible. Our HMS students are engaging in more self-initiated projects that tackle environmental, sustainability, and social issues. We have a group of students who initiated a grocery crowdfunding and delivery service to elderly and families who were in need across Singapore since the Circuit Breaker in 2020. These students continue to support these groups, and new households to date.

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The Living Community is a social impact accelerator programme by the School of Humanities & Social Sciences (HMS), aimed to empower  HMS students to be leaders of social impact, working with communities, and to tackle social needs through innovation. 

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​The Living Communing also complements existing social impact projects - we support existing Final Year Projects (FYP), Service-Learning (S-L) projects, and CCA or Club community engagement projects.  

​The social impact accelerator programme will provide students with invaluable resources (depending on students' needs):

 

• Seed funding / Industry funding

• Funding proposal writing and mentoring

• Faculty mentoring and industry mentoring

• Community and industry partnership

• Social innovation workshops

• Learning journeys

• Access to volunteers across HMS diplomas

• Access to HMS social media platforms

 

The Living Communities is aimed at providing guidance, resources, and opportunities for HMS students to explore student-initiated and student-led initiatives aimed at honing leadership skills, deepening community engagement and creating sustainable social impact.