Purposeful Community-led Centres

What is it?

A community centre led by residents engaged in purposeful local action; designed to hold not just the joys, but also the sorrows experienced by the community.

Why do it?

• We have segregated our social spaces—our community centres are used for ‘fun’ while social service agencies are ‘sad’ spaces for those with problems. As a result, the former typically hosts inconsequential recreation while the latter become stigmatised spaces that people avoid unless they have no choice—and where the community is absent except when invited as volunteers tasked with specific ways to contribute.
• When we allow communities the opportunity to care about and care for one another, they often surprise with resourcefulness and find meaningful ways to support one another beyond what professional services can imagine. Communities should therefore have their own spaces to celebrate, but also to commiserate—that is, to share life’s joys and sorrows with one another.
• When communities have the capacity to identify, understand and address their own problems, this act of self-empowerment is more precious than any attempt by others seeking to empower them. Our intuition is that Singaporeans will step up if only they saw a way to contribute meaningfully, authentically and in consequential ways.
• Imagine communities striving to eliminate poverty in their own backyard, or ensure that nobody is starving in their neighbourhood, out of solidarity because they feel that their fates are somehow intertwined with those around them. Imagine the community taking it into their own hands to ensure that anyone in their neighbourhood who needs a meal or a job or wants to contribute, can.
• Such centre that hosts these activities and purposes will look, feel and operate like a community space; not a commercial one. If there are plenty of neighbours you trust to cook and care for your kids while you are not around, there may be no need to rent the space to an after-school care service. It could even host ‘parent-led childcare’ . If older kids are happy to teach younger ones, there may be no need to make room for private tuition centres.