How can we empower the next generation to lead Hong Kong towards a brighter future? The Hong Kong Jockey Club sought to answer this question with its recent announcement of a HK$1.4 billion commitment through its Charities Trust to support five youth development initiatives. Marking its 140th anniversary, the Club unveiled this donation during The Hong Kong Jockey Club Community Day at Sha Tin Racecourse on 13 April, attended by over 200 charity and community representatives.
Club Chairman Michael Lee said young people are vital to our society’s sustainable and prosperous development, hence Youth Development and Poverty Alleviation is one of the priority areas of the Club’s charities strategy.
The five initiatives the Club is supporting echo President Xi Jinping’s remark that Hong Kong will prosper only when its young people thrive, as well as the latest youth development initiatives announced in the annual Policy Address. It includes the two strategic collaborations with the Club’s Charities Trust announced in the 2024 Policy Address, namely the enhanced HYAB JC Scheme for Youth Life Planning, launched by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau and the Youth Development Commission , which aims to assist secondary school students in realising their life planning and seizing national development opportunities; and the conversion of part of Youth Square into a new interactive space where young people can gather, exchange ideas, develop their potential and participate in different activities.
The JC Campsite Reimagination Project is another one of the initiatives, which will support the upgrading of campsites in Hong Kong and provide the community, especially young people, with unique recreational and educational experiences. Then there is the Enhancing Life Mobility Potential of Youth project, initiated and funded by the Trust, which seeks to enhance the life mobility potential of young people through an innovative multi-stage intervention model. Lastly, the JC Echoes of Love Fund, established and funded by the Trust, will provide bereavement support services and design individualised development plans for bereaved children and young people under the age of 18 impacted by the loss of a parent.
These five projects aim to “level up” young people at critical periods in their developmental journey and help them build a resilient sense of self and trajectory in life, thereby establishing a foundation for a successful future.
