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| A lion dance greeted guests at the DREAM Centre's opening |
The
first of two new support service centres for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong
opened in Kowloon City yesterday, Dec. 3.
Officiating at the opening of the DREAM Centre on the fifth floor of Kowloon City Plaza was Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-ki and the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Alice Mak.
In his speech, Chan said the government has always attached great importance to providing support for ethnic minorities to help them integrate into the local community.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
He mentioned that the Chief Executive had announced in his 2023 Policy Address that two new support centres for EMs will be set up, on top of the eight already existing. DREAM Centre is one of those, while the tenth will open in Shatin soon.
In this year’s Policy Address the Chief Executive said that in addition, a new support centre that will augment the translation and interpretation services provided by CHEER Centre will be set up by next year.
Chan expressed hope that the new initiatives will further promote the EMs’ integration into the community.
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| Chan says the centres are tasked with helping ethnic minorities integrate into HK society |
DREAM Centre, which is operated by International Social Service Hong Kong, provides a number of support service for EMs, including language classes, special interest classes, after-school tutorial classes, youth activities, as well as counselling and referral services.
The Centre will also provide help in accessing public services, including provision of workstations for accessing the Internet and distribution of multilingual guides to services provided by the Government and non-profit-making organisations.
An EM Care Team set up by the DREAM Centre has also started providing service.
The existing eight support service centres for ethnic minorities are located in Wan Chai, Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po, Tung Chung and Kwai Tsing.
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| DREAM offers tutorial, counselling and special interest classes, among others |
DREAM Centre is open everyday except during public holidays. Its operating hours are from 9am to 6:30pm on Mondays and 9am to 9pm from Tuesdays to Sundays.
For more information about its services, call the Centre’s hotline at 3104 4044.
