Hong Kong rolls out first community care teams for ethnic minority groups
- Teams will help residents ‘realise their full potential’, No 2 official Eric Chan says, with combined operating cost of HK$110 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.
