Hong Kong has rolled out its first community care teams dedicated to ethnic minority groups, with an operating budget of HK$110 million (US$14.1 million) a year.
The city’s No 2 official, Eric Chan Kwok-ki, said on Sunday the government was focused on introducing measures to help such residents better integrate into the community.
“They need to integrate into society to realise their full potential,” he said at a launch ceremony.
“Most of the members of the team are also from the ethnic minority community, so they speak the same language as those they serve and can understand and respond to their needs more easily.”
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu introduced the targeted initiative in his policy address last year to enhance support for the city’s 300,000 residents from ethnic minority groups.
The measure builds on the wider introduction of volunteer-led community care teams in the city’s 18 districts last year.
The eight new teams for ethnic minority groups operate under service centres and are tasked with reaching out to households, delivering information from the government and connecting residents with appropriate public services.
Two more teams will be set up, as two new service centres in central Kowloon and eastern New Territories are set to open by the end of the year. Their introduction will take the number of care teams for ethnic minority residents to 10.
Each centre has an operating cost of HK$11 million once the community teams are added, with a requirement to serve at least 8,000 people a year.
Chief Secretary Chan said an example of an area where the care teams could help was in relaying education information to parents, such as the school choices in the district.
He said the 10 care teams would be able to visit at least 5,000 households every year, while the 10 service centres would serve at least 110,000 people.
The government would assess whether to set up centres in other districts depending on demand, he added.
Only “patriots” are allowed to join the original citywide community care teams introduced earlier. The volunteer-led groups are tasked with a wide range of duties, including visiting and delivering supplies to the needy, providing emergency support in times of crisis and delivering information from the government.
