Fan Favourite - Juvenile Crime

The Juvenile Crime - an idea to engage youth-at-risk using the sport of Kayaking -  was one of the finalist teams of the inaugural Youth Action Challenge under the Societal track. On 19th of July, 2020, the team was announced as the Fan Favourite among the 12 teams, as it was the most liked and voted among the youth audience in Singapore! 

Many different circumstances contribute to youths-at-risk turning to crime; these could include lack of parental guidance, influence of peers or even constant boredom. The team of Juvenile Crime has come up with a solution - To address this problem by engaging youths-at-risk through the sport of kayaking. In the last few months since the conceptualisation of their idea, they have already partnered with Tasek Jurong and Taman Jurong Youth Network to run some of their pilot programs. In the near future they plan on expanding to other neighborhoods in order to make the project available for more young singaporeans.

“Our long-term vision is to execute a national kayaking competition with youths from all the eight neighborhoods in Singapore. We would like to spur the youth in Singapore to have a better vision of themselves and to be a positive influence for others in the future” - Juvenile Crime Team 

The team of seven amazing youth is formed by Elrina, Fiona, Kanimozhi and Hidayah - students at ITE College West, Yi Jie -  a full-time student at NTU, Chee Yang -  a practice trainee at Dentons Rodyk, Daron - an executive at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and Jia Hui -  an engineer at Hewlett-Packard (HP).

The Youth Co: Lab Singapore team had the opportunity to interview the  Juvenile Crime team and understand more about their idea. Here is an excerpt of the interview.

1. Please share with us why is Kayaking  your activity of choice for this project? 

There were three main reasons why we chose kayaking as our activity of interest. First, it allowed us the opportunity to provide personalised attention to the youths as we would be able to interact with them one-on-one. Secondly, when we’re on the water, it would prevent the youth at risk from using phones too regularly and hence be fully present in the moment. Lastly, the proximity of the kayaking venue to where many of the youths are staying was a great advantage for the project.

 

 

2. How did the Circuit Breaker period affect the progress of your project? How has it impacted the way you think about the problem you’re trying to address?

Due to safe distancing measures, we were unable to carry out in-person kayaking sessions which forms the bulk of our programme. Nevertheless, we noted that the Circuit Breaker also introduced more “care gaps” for youths-at-risk that should be addressed. So we used this opportunity to think of how we could use online tools to help us achieve our project’s objectives.

3. Apart from the Circuit Breaker, what are some of the other big challenges you’ve faced in implementing your project?

We have faced two main challenges: First, the inability to physically meet with the youths-at-risk which has not let us connect with them on a deeper level. Secondly, working with organizations that engage youths-at-risk is also difficult as it is a sensitive topic and since we are such a young team, it is taking a lot of time to build the trust and credibility that we truly are here to help. 

4. What are your thoughts on the sustainability of your project? Where do you see your initiative in the next 2-3 years?

We envision a virtuous cycle for our project where individuals and /or beneficiaries who were involved in the first iteration of the kayaking activities then become mentors themselves for future mentees. In this manner, our project should be able to sustain and scale. We want to break the vicious cycle that youth-at-risk face with this virtuous one.

5. What impact would you like to see as a result of your work?

We would like to ensure that every youth-at-risk knows that they are not alone when they are going through difficult moments in their life. In terms of our project, we would like to see continuity in our work and would like more volunteers to join us to create a better tomorrow for youths.  

We heartily congratulate the Juvenile Crime team for their well-deserved Fan Favourite Award. It is no surprise that their idea has touched the hearts of many people. We will continue to work with the team and support them as they move forward with their project.

Fan Favourite - Juvenile Crime

About the Youth Action Challenge

The Youth Action Challenge is part of the SG Action Plan and it provides the youth with a platform to showcase their ideas to tackle these challenges along with having their say in the policymaking process. Organised by the National Youth Council in partnership with The Youth Co:Lab in Singapore, a joint initiative of Citi Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Challenge brings youth-led ideas and initiatives to center-stage, providing them with the support, mentorship and financial assistance along the way. 

Read more on Youth Action Challenge Winners Series in our latest updates  section!

If you want to also take action and be a part of the Youth Action Challenge Season 2, you can register your interest HERE.