Missions and purpose

1. Foster environment awareness in urban poor
2. Educate the grassroots citizens on energy efficiency and waste management
3. Promote the notion of energy citizenship
4. Build up poverty alleviation capital for the underprivileged children

Working approach

1. Start a green roof program
2. Create a green team
3. Targeted poverty alleviation, render support for the poorest children

1. The Roof Greening Program

The Roof Greening Program: Aims to promote the implementation of green roofs in urban areas, particularly in grassroots communities. We start this program in the roof of 115-119 Kweilin Street Centre. Green roofs involve the installation of vegetation on building rooftops, providing numerous environmental and social benefits.

By SoCO Intervention

• Harvest in the roof ：Sunflowers, Water spinach, chili peppers, winter melon and  eggplant The building has a serious rat infestation problem, the rats have eaten most of the plants on the rooftop, leaving only chili peppers.

• Create a Green Team：More than 30 center volunteers including residents living in Kweilin Street building dedicate to join the green team, spearhead sustainability efforts. They assist in gardening on the roof, like watering, weeding, pruning and harvesting to keep plants healthy and productive.

2. Clean Building Initiative

Clean Building Initiative: More than 200,000 grassroots citizens have no choice but to live in sub-divided units, partitioned apartments, bedspace and other unpalatable homes with unhygienic and dangerous environment.

• Enhancing cleanliness standards in buildings through regular cleaning, efficient waste management, and hygiene protocols, such as quality of water. Promoting a safe and healthy environment for users, this program focuses on cleanliness education, effective cleaning practices, and fostering a sense of responsibility among building users.

• Subsidize center members to clean the building : Too many mice and clutter in the building, by regularly providing subsidies to grassroots citizens to assist in dusting, wiping  surfaces, declutter, etc. it not only can create a consistently clean and germ-free environment for residents, but also increase their incomes.

3. Energy-Efficient workshops

Energy-Efficient workshops: Improve energy efficiency in grassroots communities by offering workshops and promoting energy-saving habits. Educational resources, energy-saving workshops can be part of this program.

• Visiting Eco Expo Asia : A platform for the environmental industry that showcases the latest green products, equipment and state-of-the-art technology. Grassroots citizens understand the importance of sustainability, energy efficiency, waste management and how their individual actions contribute to broader ecological goals.

• Flower arrangement class : Flowers, trees and gardens can confer measurable health benefits and associate with the power of healing, flower arrangement classes are organized for grassroots citizens that teach them how to create eco-friendly flower arrangements, like using biodegradable and recycled packaging, saucing locally, using seasonal bloom and avoiding floral foam.

• Flower arrangement class : By learning different principles of sustainable floristry and embedding sustainability workshops into their living culture, it creates eco-friendly flower arrangements at home while demonstrating a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility.

4. Nature Exploration and Conservation Program

Nature Exploration and Conservation Program: Organize nature-based activities and initiatives, such as guided nature walks and tree planting, to foster a connection with the natural world and raise awareness about environmental conservation.

• Visiting: Mai Po Nature Reserve,  has been a paradise for birds and a beautiful, irreplaceable piece of China’s wetland kaleidoscope.

• Hiking Tai Lam Country Park in the New Territories : Explore picturesque Sweet Gum Woods and Thousand Island Lake. Many low-income families face tremendous stress including employment, taking care of children and health issues, etc.
• Hiking provides a host of mental and physical health advantages, such as improved cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health, better balance and coordination and mental health improvements.

Online Little Pioneers

Online Little Pioneers : To encourage grassroots children and their families to unleash their creativity and potential at home, making good use of information technology and the internet, we offer five programs:

• “Holiday Adventures,”
• “Junior Master Chef at Home,”
• “Get Active Every Day,”
• “Read and Enjoy,”
• “I’m a Genius.”

These programs aim to promote positive development in the areas of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, teamwork, and aesthetics.

This photograph (Author: Unknown) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.

Holiday Adventures

Participants transform into KOLs and use video to record various local attractions in Hong Kong. This includes hiking trails, historical landmarks, tourist spots, and country parks, among others.

Junior Master Chef at Home

Participants and parents create affordable but nutritious meals at home. There are no restrictions on the types of food, and the process of making the meals is recorded and uploaded to YouTube for other participants’ reference and use.

Get Active Every Day

Participants in the program are encouraged to engage in daily physical activities like walking, climbing stairs, and running to improve fitness. They are requested to use a step tracking app like StepsApp to upload their step count data quarterly.

Read and Enjoy

Participants read books or watch videos (30 pages or 20 minutes minimum) and write reports. Reports are shared on the website, and the public votes for their favorite grassroots reporter.

I’m a Genius

Grassroots students record talent performance videos (singing, playing instruments, magic, recitation, etc.) and upload them to the website. Public voting determines winners who may perform at the cultural center.

• Many grassroots children and families join theses programs. Based on evaluation criteria and guidelines, we select winners and give them awards so as to encourage them to raise environmental awareness and fostering a culture of responsibility to protect the planet.

Policy Concern Groups

• Policy Concern Groups : To empower grassroots members, we establish various policy concern groups based on their specific needs and experiences. These groups provide a platform for mutual support and information sharing, enabling members to stay updated and support one another and advocate for environmental substainability together.

This photograph (Author: Unknown) is licensed under CC BY-SA.

Impact of the Project

• This project trained up over near 1000 underprivileged to support the environmental substainability and built up a value and awareness to protect environment and work together. The project changed their mindset and habit.
• Trained volunteers helped the dwellers from cage homes, cubicles and sub-divided flats to clean their building and promote the environmental substainability value to over 1,000 dwellers.
• The participants and beneficiary are very grateful to the sponsor of BWT, The Aqua Pearls Foundation

The Aqua Pearls Foundation