Community Circles Singapore

Community Circles Singapore, is an initiative funded by Institute of Policy Studies and led by Soul Probe. The 2022-2023 run of Community Circles involves the formation of a small group of people (volunteers, neighbours, friends etc) around caregivers of persons with special needs who need some help or who want to make a change in their lives. The caregiver articulates his/her needs and goals, and the group discusses how they can help and also distributes the tasks in monthly meetings - that is if the circle is action-oriented. 

Community Circles can be a powerful way for society to organize informal support for people who fall through the cracks of our society. There are marginalized, minority, invisible or disenfranchised individuals who may be struggling, feeling left behind or suffering in silence. The lack of social support (family, freinds, etc.) may make them feel even more alienated from the rest of society. In Singapore, we have lost the beautiful kampung spirit with the rise of capitalism, urbanization, the national state and the nuclear family structure. Circles help to bring some semblance of that kampung spirit back into our urban communities. Often, it is difficult for one person to pluck the courage to help another person in need all by herself/himself for the fear of being overwhelmed, and being enmeshed within the situation. But, with a group of like-minded friends and volunteers, that barrier to render assistance reduces significantly. 

Circles can also be a powerful tool for society to address structural or systemic segregation that could be the root cause of prejudice, bias and discrimination that certain marginalized groups may face. For example, neuroatypical children are stratified and then segregated from the rest of society. The lack of exposure, interaction or representation of neuroatypical children in the mainstream society may cause neurotypical people to fear or be ignorant of them. Circles can help to convene a diverse support group of people from different walks of life to undo the negative impact of stratification and segregation. 

Lastly, Circles can be a powerful vehicle to restore the spirit of Ubuntu in societies where individualism, cut-throat competion or unidimensional assessments of meritocracy are rife. We hope that this site would provide you with the resources to convene your own circle of support around someone who may be going through a tough time.