協青社

My personal encounters with 協青社 (Youth Outreach):

1. When I was the Allocations Manager with the Community Chest around the year 1999 or 2000, I studied the outreach services of youth organizations and first leart about Youth Outreach and its mobile van outreach services for youth "night drifters".
   
2. While preparing for the thesis of my Master Program at HKU, I examined youth service development in Hong Kong and again did some research on the mobile van outreach services of Youth Outreach (around year 2000).
   
3. While cooperating with St. James' Settlement to undertake the CAFO Social Enterprises research project (late 2004 or early 2005?), the research team interviewed Youth Outreach to learn about their three "business ventures" - running a 7-Eleven, a courier service, and the partnership with 表哥餐廳 located at Youth Outreach's new service building at 西灣河 (as a kind of job training, all three services employed the youth clients/members of Youth Outreach). Yet I only read the interview reports as I has not taken part in that particular interview.
   
4. After going hiking with some NGO friends (around late 2004??), we went to 表哥餐廳 at Youth Outreach's premises for dinner. For the restaurant, it pays a below market rent to Youth Outreach, but it pledges to employ the youths from the organization and there should also be a profit sharing plan. We paid a brief "visit" to the building and grabbed some service brochures.
   
5. Last Sunday Juliana participated in the girls' hip-hop dance competition organized by the Hip-Hop School of Youth Outreach, and her team - the 4 Dimensions - won the second runner-up (after being demoted from first runner-up).
   

Overall, I think Youth Outreach is a very good service agency, very innovative and willing to try out new service models, and not relying on a lot of government funding (at least during its early time - don't know the situation now).