The Simon K. Y. Lee Children’s Fund (“the Children’s Fund”) was set up in 2011 as a daughter fund of the Simon K. Y. Lee Foundation, with a mission to tackle intergenerational poverty and places a particular emphasis on early childhood development, including:
- Helping children from deprived families to develop a strong foundation in learning, thereby enhancing their prospects for success
- Reducing the disparity in learning between children from deprived families and those from well-off families
We take a proactive role in identifying the problem and bringing together individuals and organizations with passion and expertise in the area to create new solutions. Through initiating projects combining research and frontline service, we devise intervention models and then promote effective measures to the sector and the government in order to amplify the impact.
Advisory Committee
The Children’s Fund is governed by the Board of the Simon K Y Lee Foundation and assisted by an Advisory Committee currently comprising (in alphabetical order):
- Prof. Doris CHENG, Professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Tung Wah College
- Prof. CHENG Kai Ming, SBS, JP, Professor, Chair of Education, The University of Hong Kong
- CHEUNG Hing Wah, BBS, former Deputy Director of Social Welfare (Services), Social Welfare Department, The HKSAR Government
- Prof. Daniel SHEK, BBS, SBS, JP, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme) and Chair Professor, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Dr. Sandra TSANG, JP, Hon. Associate Professor, Department of Social Work & Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong
- Dr. Sanly TSANG, Consultant, Council of Non-profit Making Organizations for Pre-primary Education & Vice-President, Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association (Hong Kong)
Early Childhood Development
A child’s foundation years are critical to his/her development, and lay the foundation for later success in school and beyond. Nevertheless, most deprived families in Hong Kong lack the capacity to provide the necessary nurturing for their young children. Besides, social services and support for deprived preschoolers are inadequate. As a result, children from deprived families often lag behind their peers. In view of the social problem and service gap, the Children’s Fund concentrates its resources on this specific target group and initiates research and service projects to help them get onto a level playing field hence being more able to tackle intergenerational poverty.