<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>CDAC will go into red to meet surge in aid requests
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Self-help group projects $4 million deficit; it aims to help 64,000 needy </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE struggling low-income families will knock on the doors of the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) this year compared to last year, and it is prepared to go into the red to meet their needs.
To meet this surge in aid requests from recession-hit Chinese Singaporeans, the CDAC is projecting a $4 million deficit for this year's budget.
The self-help group will dig into past surpluses, as well as investment income from its endowment fund, to finance the deficit, council chairman and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say said yesterday.
While this will be the second straight year that it is incurring a deficit, he stressed that the CDAC will rein in costs next year by streamlining programmes.
He spoke to reporters after the group's annual general meeting. It approved a $23.2 million budget for this year - $3.2 million more than for last year.
This is in anticipation of providing assistance to at least 64,000 needy Chinese Singaporeans and permanent residents, up from 55,000 last year.
The money will go towards a raft of schemes for students, workers and families. These include increased tuition subsidies and bursaries for children in low-income households, and doing more to help retrenched workers upgrade their skills.
The CDAC started ramping up its spending two years ago, when low- income households started to feel the pinch of global inflation.
It was in the red by $3 million last year. This year's $4 million deficit is 'unprecedented and not likely to be sustainable over the longer term', said Mr Lim.
But the group's board of trustees supported the budget increase on the grounds that 'what we are going through is an exceptional time and we should not hold back our support for members who approach us', Mr Lim explained.
The 25-member board, headed by United Overseas Bank chairman Wee Cho Yaw, comprises community and business leaders.
As a sign of how financially stretched low-income Singaporeans are, 345 families with a gross monthly household income of less than $1,000 sought hardship assistance for immediate financial woes from the CDAC in the first half of this year. It expects to take on 400 or more of such hardship cases for this year, up from 335 last year.
At the 10 CDAC-run student services centres offering enrichment programmes, some 1,100 students received a waiver of up to 75 per cent of the fees, between January and this month.
Over the same period last year, just 660 students got the subsidies.
While the CDAC wants to go all out now to help the community, Mr Lim said that in future, 'we cannot do everything that we do today and keep adding on new programmes'.
This means that it will be collaborating more with other organisations to avoid duplicating aid schemes.
Together with North West Community Development Council (CDC) and grassroots organisations, it currently runs an education and employment services centre in Bukit Panjang. A second such centre is in the pipeline.
The bulk of CDAC funds come from the contributions of working Chinese Singaporeans and permanent residents, who give between 50 cents and $1 a month.
The Government is another source of funding. It is giving the CDAC extra funding of $1 million annually over two years, as part of increased funding for community self-help groups announced in the Budget statement in January.
But the CDAC also has an endowment fund, built up through donations from the community. The fund's investments have generated an average annual return of 5 per cent, according to Mr Lim.
As a result, some $4 million of the fund's net investment income will feed $10 million worth of programmes over the next four years, aimed at promoting social mobility among the lower-income.
The CDAC yesterday also announced the appointment of deputy executive director Goh Chim Khim, 57, as its acting executive director.
He succeeds MP Sam Tan, 50, who assumes his new appointments as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts tomorrow.
[email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Self-help group projects $4 million deficit; it aims to help 64,000 needy </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MORE struggling low-income families will knock on the doors of the Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) this year compared to last year, and it is prepared to go into the red to meet their needs.
To meet this surge in aid requests from recession-hit Chinese Singaporeans, the CDAC is projecting a $4 million deficit for this year's budget.
The self-help group will dig into past surpluses, as well as investment income from its endowment fund, to finance the deficit, council chairman and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say said yesterday.
While this will be the second straight year that it is incurring a deficit, he stressed that the CDAC will rein in costs next year by streamlining programmes.
He spoke to reporters after the group's annual general meeting. It approved a $23.2 million budget for this year - $3.2 million more than for last year.
This is in anticipation of providing assistance to at least 64,000 needy Chinese Singaporeans and permanent residents, up from 55,000 last year.
The money will go towards a raft of schemes for students, workers and families. These include increased tuition subsidies and bursaries for children in low-income households, and doing more to help retrenched workers upgrade their skills.
The CDAC started ramping up its spending two years ago, when low- income households started to feel the pinch of global inflation.
It was in the red by $3 million last year. This year's $4 million deficit is 'unprecedented and not likely to be sustainable over the longer term', said Mr Lim.
But the group's board of trustees supported the budget increase on the grounds that 'what we are going through is an exceptional time and we should not hold back our support for members who approach us', Mr Lim explained.
The 25-member board, headed by United Overseas Bank chairman Wee Cho Yaw, comprises community and business leaders.
As a sign of how financially stretched low-income Singaporeans are, 345 families with a gross monthly household income of less than $1,000 sought hardship assistance for immediate financial woes from the CDAC in the first half of this year. It expects to take on 400 or more of such hardship cases for this year, up from 335 last year.
At the 10 CDAC-run student services centres offering enrichment programmes, some 1,100 students received a waiver of up to 75 per cent of the fees, between January and this month.
Over the same period last year, just 660 students got the subsidies.
While the CDAC wants to go all out now to help the community, Mr Lim said that in future, 'we cannot do everything that we do today and keep adding on new programmes'.
This means that it will be collaborating more with other organisations to avoid duplicating aid schemes.
Together with North West Community Development Council (CDC) and grassroots organisations, it currently runs an education and employment services centre in Bukit Panjang. A second such centre is in the pipeline.
The bulk of CDAC funds come from the contributions of working Chinese Singaporeans and permanent residents, who give between 50 cents and $1 a month.
The Government is another source of funding. It is giving the CDAC extra funding of $1 million annually over two years, as part of increased funding for community self-help groups announced in the Budget statement in January.
But the CDAC also has an endowment fund, built up through donations from the community. The fund's investments have generated an average annual return of 5 per cent, according to Mr Lim.
As a result, some $4 million of the fund's net investment income will feed $10 million worth of programmes over the next four years, aimed at promoting social mobility among the lower-income.
The CDAC yesterday also announced the appointment of deputy executive director Goh Chim Khim, 57, as its acting executive director.
He succeeds MP Sam Tan, 50, who assumes his new appointments as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts tomorrow.
[email protected]
