SSR Seminar Series: “Get lost! This space is for everyone”: Perceptions of Youths in Public Spaces
Seminar Recording
Watch the seminar recording here:
- Registration extended to 2 May 2024!
- Registration slots are limited and will be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
- Successful registrants will be informed by 3 May 2024 via email.
- Unsuccessful sign-ups will be redirected to attend online (refer below for online event details).
- Registrants will automatically receive the Zoom link via email after registration.
Seminar Details
Young people in Singapore have been able to access a range of spaces in their community to meet needs for socialisation and peer belonging, as well as to seek out new experiences. Consequently, the risk of being exposed to negative and anti-social influences, along with concerning behaviours displayed in public, have resulted in efforts to regulate the use of public spaces among young people. These also reflect some prevailing perceptions of young people as being “troublemakers” or “public nuisances”.
By studying data collected across 6 months of street outreach in public spaces where young people can be found, we aim to shed light on existing public perceptions surrounding the behaviours and presence of young people in these spaces. Based on data collected from interviews with adolescents and members of the public, along with documentation notes written by youth workers who conduct street outreach, we also present a critical analysis of the lived experiences of these young people to elucidate opportunities that public spaces as key “third places” offer for learning and informal education. The sharing will conclude with ways in which all “members of public” can view and harness public spaces as sites of learning for young people in Singapore.
Senior Social Worker
Children & Youth Services
Care Corner Singapore
Senior Social Worker
Children & Youth Services
Care Corner Singapore
Youth Work Executive
Children & Youth Services
Care Corner Singapore
Social Worker
Children & Youth Services
Care Corner Singapore
Social Worker
Children & Youth Services
Care Corner Singapore
Colin joined Care Corner Youth Services in 2021. He has delivered multiple school programmes to upper primary and secondary school students with high needs and exhibited behavioural challenges. He is also heavily involved in engaging youth who are disengaged from various systems in their lives and prefer to hang out on the streets. With the varied nature of work and youth population, Colin is adaptable and well-versed to engage adolescents in both group work and case work settings.
Colin has been involved in curriculum development and implementing programmes for adolescent workshops, parent workshops, and family coaching sessions for low-income service users. Colin is also involved in supporting the monitoring and evaluation of programmes. Presently, Colin also guides and coaches junior workers in youth work practice, and contributes to practice standards as one of the key members of the Learning & Development team.
Flora joined Care Corner in 2018, working with adolescents in various settings including schools, on the streets, and through the criminal justice system. As a Senior Social Worker in Youth Services, Flora understands the shifting needs of today’s youth and strives to meet the demands with the conceptualisation and development of new programmes. Flora has played a key role in the revitalisation of the goals, values, roles and essential knowledge and skills required for staff to better meet the needs of the adolescents they serve.
In 2023, she was awarded the ‘Promising Social Worker Award’ by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam for her efforts in spearheading the transformation of youth programmes through innovative and evidence-based approaches. Her convictions lie in harnessing the power and potential of adolescence together with the systems in an adolescent’s environment.
Joy started out as a Youth Guidance Officer at Singapore Girls’ Home. During her time there, she worked with youths from challenging backgrounds, guiding them on acquiring personal mastery of positive habits and values. Joy was adept at de-escalating conflict between adolescents and responding to crisis situations. Using a trauma-informed approach, Joy took care to use both firm discipline and nurturance to meet the needs of the adolescents while addressing risk issues.
At Care Corner, Joy conducts and conceptualises session plans for various youth programmes while also interfacing with different stakeholders. In her current role, she has led the team in strategising engagement for youth groups on the streets and area- estate planning. She was also involved in reviewing and improving current processes of programmes to streamline daily operations. Joy believes in enriching the learning experience of adolescents and providing a conducive learning environment for them.
Diana started out as a Speech and Drama instructor with various organisations which saw her facilitating public speaking and drama courses. Her experience as an instructor entailed tailoring unique lesson plans that fit the learning needs and dynamics of the adolescents engaged while meaningfully engaging their parents to ensure holistic support. Despite being in the performing arts enrichment industry, Diana remained passionate about serving the community and continued being an active volunteer for children & youth volunteer welfare organisations between 2016 and 2022.
Currently, she is based in our Children & Youth Services, where she focuses on working with adolescents on the fringes. Her daily work entails her working closely with adolescents engaged through referrals from schools and other social service agencies, as well as through street outreach, all in a bid to effect positive change in their lives.
Hui Earm has vast experience over the past 7 years working with adolescents from a variety of backgrounds facing complex issues. She is adept at engaging and supporting adolescents who may have been displaced from school or their homes, who present academic challenges, young offenders, and those facing mental health concerns.
In her role as a social worker with Care Corner, Hui Earm focuses on working with adolescents who face issues surrounding their school attendance and young offenders to reduce the risk of reoffending, while also being involved in school social work. Her work also entails close partnership with not only the adolescents, but also with the families and schools, to bring about positive change and empowerment in their respective environments. Regardless of the starting points among these adolescents, Hui Earm believes that they have great potential in them worth honing and sharpening.
Associate Professor
National University of Singapore &
Head of Urban Studies
Yale-NUS College
Ho Kong Chong is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at NUS FASS and Head of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College. Trained as an urban sociologist at the University of Chicago, A/P Ho’s research interests are in neighbourhood and community development, heritage and place-making, the political economy of cities as well as a more recent interest in higher education. Much of his published work is on East Asian (Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei) and Southeast Asian cities (Bangkok and Singapore). He is the author of Neighbourhoods for the City in Pacific Asia (2020). His active research projects include: the Ministry of National Development (MND) funded "Study of Mixed Housing Typologies" (Lead Researcher), USPC NUS grant "Governing Diverse Cities in Europe and Asia", and MOE SSHR grant "Fostering Positive Community Behaviour" (Co-Lead).
For enquiries, please contact Mr Asher Goh.