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TOUCH Report 2008 14TOUCH Leadership & MentoringThere are many needs in the youth community. The teenage years are a time of many changes – physically,mentally, socially and emotionally. TOUCH Leadership & Mentoring (TL&M), a service of TOUCH Youth, seesthese youths as leaders and seek to develop them in this stage of their life, by helping them learn importantvalues and lessons on leadership qualities through camps and serving the community, to better manage lifeissues and improve their self esteem.In the year, TL&M actively partnered with schools and government agencies to provide holistic developmentprogrammes for youths, serving 1,905 clients and 356 service users.Raising competencies through trainingIn line with TL&M’s focus on enhancing the skills of staff and volunteers to further improve their effectiveness,core training areas were identified in 2008. For example, in April, a team from TL&M flew to Minneapolis,Minnesota, USA, to attend the 19th Annual National Service-Learning (S-L) Conference organised by theNational Youth Leadership Council and partially funded through the VWOs-Charities Capability Fund. Over2,000 youths and practitioners from the S-L movement attended the conference and TOUCH was the onlyteam representing Singapore. The conference, with its wide range of seminars and workshops, gave theteam new insights of S-L and how it could be applied in Singapore.2008 also saw an increased number of volunteers trained in TL&M’s S-L programmes to equip them withrelevant knowledge and facilitation skills – raising the number of service users from 297 in 2007 to 356in 2008. The total number of volunteers also increased 57% to 124 individuals compared to the previousyear.Mentoring youths & training teachersTL&M also actively partnered TOUCH Youth Learning Centre (TYLC) for Project SMILE (Sharing Magic In LoveEverywhere), Project CLASS (Compassionate Leaders Always Serving Society) and Job Readiness Training.Introduced to TYLC in 2007, the programmes were extended to “O” Level students in 2008 where studentslearnt leadership skills and how to do their part for the community.2008 also saw the introduction of creative S-L projects in the area of environment care where 291 studentslearnt about the importance of being environmentally friendly in schools.In the year under review, TL&M continued to enjoy strong and sustained partnerships with schools includingNew Town Secondary School, Paya Lebar Girls’ Secondary School, Raffles Girls’ School, Tanjong KatongSecondary School and Telok Kurau Secondary School. For the first time, foreign exchange students managedby National University of Singapore’s International Relations Office underwent the basic S-L facilitation skillstraining to introduce S-L in their exchange programmes. The total number of teachers who attended S-Ltraining doubled to 106 in 2008 compared to the previous year.One of TL&M’s key achievements also included the positive response from the STEP-UP (School social workTo Empower Pupils to Utilise Potential) programme, which tripled to 63 youths in Bedok Town SecondarySchool and Geylang Methodist Secondary School – a new addition – compared to the year before.