***********************************************************
The following is issued on behalf of the Community Care Fund Secretariat:
The Community Care Fund (CCF) rolled out an assistance programme today (March 1) to provide a subsidy for ethnic minorities (EMs) and new arrivals from the Mainland (NAs) participating in language courses.
The pilot programme provides a subsidy for non-school-attending EMs and NAs taking dedicated language courses of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) with 80 per cent attendance or above for each course. The subsidy aims to help EMs and NAs in their continued education or employment, enhance their competitiveness and thereby enable their early integration into the community. The provision earmarked for the programme is $30 million, and each successful application will receive a subsidy ranging between $350 and $700.
The target beneficiaries of the programme come from low-income families that have passed the means test for specified assistance schemes, or have a monthly household income below the specified income limit. Eligible applicants who have completed a dedicated language course of the ERB with 80 per cent attendance or above may apply for the subsidy.
The Home Affairs Department (HAD) has commissioned the International Social Service ¡ª Hong Kong Branch (ISS-HK) and the New Home Association (NHA) to handle matters relating to applications from EMs and NAs respectively. Eligible persons may download the application form from the websites of the CCF, HAD, ISS-HK or NHA. Completed application forms together with copies of the relevant documents should be sent by post or handed in at specified locations.
For more information on the eligibility criteria and application procedures, please visit the websites of the CCF (www.communitycarefund.hk), the HAD (www.had.gov.hk), ISS-HK (www.isshk-hope.org) or NHA (www.nha.org.hk).
For enquiries, please call the programme hotline at 5188 8044 (for EMs) or 2815 5799 (for NAs).
Ends/Thursday, March 1, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:21
NNNN