TIGER AIRWAYS PRESS RELEASE - Nov 2010 - Tiger Airways Singapore has joined hands with Streets International to help disadvantaged youth in South East Asia.
Media Release
● Tiger Airways supports STREETS International to empower street kids in SE Asia.
● Social enterprise empowers disadvantaged youth for careers in hospitality.
● Youth become self-reliant with training, housing, support and mentorship.
Tiger helps trainees gain international exposure, while promoting the STREETS Restaurant Café where they train, and raising awareness for the cause.
Singapore, 10 November 2010. Tiger Airways Singapore has joined hands with STREETS International to help disadvantaged youth in South East Asia. STREETS International is an innovative not-for-profit initiative that helps disadvantaged and vulnerable youth succeed in life with careers in hospitality. The internationally credentialed culinary arts and hospitality training program also includes an extensive mentoring life skills program and “hospitality English” classes. During the entire 18-month programme, the youth are also provided with housing, clothing, food, medical care and mentorship.
An important part of the program is that, trainees get real-life hands-on experience at the self-sustaining STREETS Restaurant Café, where proceeds go entirely to fund the STREETS program. The first Restaurant Café has been operating successfully at 17 Le Loi Street, Ancient Town, Hoi An in Vietnam for over a year. Plans are underway to expand the program to other parts of Asia including Laos and the Philippines.
Tiger Airways also plans to help the trainees gain overseas exposure, by bringing them to Singapore to experience the hospitality sector here. Neal Bermas, founder and Chairperson of STREETS International, said, “The hospitality and tourism industries are a large part of developing economies throughout SE Asia and the world. STREETS is the first real chance for many disadvantaged young adults to transition from poverty and life on the streets to the dignity of self-sufficiency with a successful career in hospitality. This allows them to provide for themselves, their families, and to contribute to the development of their country as a whole. We are excited to join hands with Tiger Airways. With their muscle in this region, we’ll be empowered to empower more kids.”
Rosalynn Tay, Managing Director of Tiger Airways, said, “Tiger Airways has grown successfully for the past 6 years in Asia. Having come of age, we are excited by this opportunity to give something back to the people of Asia. We have been empowering travellers with low fares and the choice to pay only for extras that they really want. By taking STREETS International under our wings, we are helping to empower youth to be self reliant, and contributing to the growth of the hospitality industry and the economy. We look forward to helping STREETS International help even more people, as we grow Tiger’s pawprints across the region.”
Notes:
About poverty and street kids in Asia
In many countries, the legacy of war and struggling economies is that a large number of youth live in a vulnerable world of poverty. Most developing countries are predominantly rural, with as much as 75 percent of the populations living outside the cities; many below the world poverty level. The reality of this situation is that an enormous number of youth are impoverished, with little hope of finishing school, let alone finding a livelihood. Many are forced to move to the city to find money to support themselves and their families. Most end up living and working on the streets, selling postcards or gum or shining shoes. In Hanoi alone, an estimated 19,000 young people live on the streets. In the Philippines, there are a staggering 1.5 million street kids. They are ill equipped to survive, suffering from poor health and often falling prey to drugs, exploitation, crime, and prostitution.
How hospitality training helps them
The hospitality and tourism industries are a large part of developing economies throughout SE Asia and the world. Most of the trainees of STREETS International are offered jobs even before they complete the training. Upon embarking on their new careers, graduates will continue to work with STREETS to help new batches of trainees, further propagating the program.
About STREETS International
STREETS INTERNATIONAL is a not-for-profit, sustainable, social enterprise initiative for disadvantaged, orphaned and vulnerable youth. It is an innovative program that combines restaurant operations with education, training, housing and lifestyle support. By doing so, STREETS dramatically changes the lives of the impoverished young adults it serves. In June 2007, hospitality and food industry educators and businesspersons, along with international development experts, came together to launch the first site for this sustainable model in Hoi An, Vietnam. The first group of trainees will complete the program in December, 2010. Two other groups of trainees are already under way with their training at STREETS.