SARs’ youngsters to get all-round services
Public and private organizations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have launched a new body offering all-round services to youths from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions seeking opportunities on the Chinese mainland.
The Guangdong-Hong KongMacao Greater Bay Area Youth Home, which aims to make young people the biggest beneficiary in the Bay Area development, brings together various existing services platforms with similar aims in the region.
About 1,000 young people from Hong Kong attended the launch ceremony at Jinan University in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong province.
Founded by the New Home Association, a Hong Kong-based charity organization, along with the Guangdong Youth Federation, the Youth Home invited similar organizations from all 11 cities in the Bay Area to join the effort.
It will help youths from the two SARs who are studying, working or living in the Bay Area to overcome problems ranging from starting up businesses to accessing public services in the city cluster.
The Youth Home will also support parents of young people in the Bay Area in addressing daily-life issues.
At present, 20 service stations of different institutions in the Bay Area provide such services for young people in a trial operation.
Hui Wing-mau — chairman of New Home Association — said the Youth Home will integrate various youth service organizations in the Bay Area. “So, the service would be more comprehensive and influential,” he said.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Terence Chan Yin-hong, a 30-yearold designer, encountered many challenges a year ago when he first went to Guangzhou to start his own company. “It was a totally strange city for me. I had no friends here. I was not familiar with the financial and legal system on the mainland,” he said.
However, Chan was lucky enough to get the help from one of the affiliated organizations of the Youth Home in Tianhe district, Guangzhou, during the new body’s trial operation.
The organization helped Chan with legal, taxation, and financial issues facing startup businesses and advised him to analyze the trends of the mainland market.
Moreover, it helped him expand his social circle. With their assistance, Chan’s business expanded and now has 30 people working there.
Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chief secretary for administration of the HKSAR, said the SAR government gives young people full support to study and work in the Bay Area by providing them with a platform and comprehensive information feed.
“To this point, the Greater Bay Area Youth Home is a signature program,” he said.
Cheung said the official blueprint for the Bay Area will be unveiled before the middle of March. More youth exchange programs will be unveiled then, he added.