City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA)

City College was founded in 2002 to provide an alternative path for high school education in Singapore. The target group is primarily school dropouts from public schools. The strategy is two-pronged. First, City College seeks to influence other commercial schools to have better service deliveries by exerting market pressure on them. By delivering an innovative and effective curriculum at affordable prices, City College secured about 8% of the market share in a short span of four years. As a result, competitors started to adopt similar practices, which in turn have seen the performance of private schools in Singapore improve by 10%. Second, City College’s strategy is to accelerate change in traditional practices and policies in government schools. It has managed to attract attention from public school leaders who have visited the college to learn and study its unique student-centred culture and pedagogical approaches.

To finance lower income youths for the programme, another enterprise, O School, was set up in 2006. O School is a performing arts school that offers street dance training to the public, primarily youths aged from 16 to 25. The school is able to offer employment for youths and also generate profits that are channelled into City College’s bursary fund. Hence, a by-youths-for-youths financing model is created.

To date, City College had enrolled more than 1,200 students; 60% of these students have moved on to tertiary education, while 95% of them have attained a basic high school education certification. O School is currently the leading street dance school in Singapore with a membership base of close to 5,000. It has also created events like The Big Groove, which gained regional recognition as well as choreographed for major events like the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. It is also a centre for advocacy, raising awareness of notable causes through performing arts.