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Amongst the four support service centres for ethnic minorities operated under the funding grant of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, the fourth one commences operation today (September 5).
The centre is located at G/F, 5 Tsui Ping Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon. It is operated by Hong Kong Christian Service. It opens seven days a week except for public holidays. The operating hours are from 10am to 10pm, except for Sundays on which the operating hours are from 10am to 6pm.
At this stage, the centre will offer a number of programmes for ethnic minorities including English and Cantonese language classes, computer training, cultural understanding and orientation of community services with a view to facilitating their integration into the community. It will also provide other services including sight translation, mutual support and counselling.
At the next stage, the centre will also provide telephone interpretation services for ethnic minorities to facilitate their access to public services. For this purpose, it is now undertaking staff training and trial runs. After the relevant preparatory work has been completed, the centre will commence the interpretation services. Separate announcement will be made at that time.
The other three support services centres, operated by the International Social Service - Hong Kong Branch, Yuen Long Town Hall and Christian Action, have commenced operation in previous months.
The four support service centres are provided with a total of about $8 million as one-off start-up costs and also operating expenses for two years at a total of about $16 million each year.
Ends/Saturday, September 5, 2009
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