SINGAPORE \u2013 Employment is crucial in giving former offenders stability and a pathway to rebuild their lives, working alongside encouragement from families, volunteers and the community to help them make a fresh start, said Law Minister and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch has been very clear about this. It has shown that sustained employment plays an important part, a critical part in successful reintegration,\u201d said Tong at the Yellow Ribbon Community Project (YRCP) awards and appreciation luncheon on Nov 14 at the Singapore Expo.<\/p>\n
Urging more employers to embrace inclusive hiring, he added: \u201cWhen employers open their doors… they make second chance a reality, a possibility \u2013 something that they can see at the end of the tunnel that is real for ex-offenders and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
As at December 2025, about 6,500 employers were registered with Yellow Ribbon Singapore.<\/p>\n
To support these businesses, the Government offers the Uplifting Employment Credit (UEC) to provide eligible employers with wage support of up to 20% for the first nine months of employment, capped at $600 each month. In 2025, about 1,000 employers tapped the UEC to hire some 2,600 former offenders. Tong said the scheme will be extended to 2028.<\/p>\n
At the event attended by guests and volunteers from 20 grassroots divisions, 236 volunteers received long-service awards for the time spent and relationships they had built with families impacted by incarceration.<\/p>\n
Since its launch in 2010, YRCP has mobilised 1,100 volunteers across 93 divisions to support more than 29,000 families.<\/p>\n
To strengthen family support further, the event highlighted expanded community partnerships and the new YRCP Portal. Launched in October, the digital platform helps volunteers maintain case notes and coordinate assistance.<\/p>\n
Deputy Superintendent of Prisons Jay Choo, 38, who leads the YRCP under the Community Partnership and Family Policy Branch, said: \u201cWe are looking at how to tap the national platform… for employment opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe are increasingly seeing families who have young children, for example, or elderly dependants who need caregiving arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arrangements are being made with community partners dealing in early childhood development, as well as those with expertise in nursing needs.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Sarah (not her real name) saw her world crashing down when her brother was imprisoned. She was suddenly left to look after her ailing mother and manage her household.<\/p>\n
Sarah, 28, said: \u201cI was struggling here and there, and I went into depression at that point of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Support flowed in from friends and YRCP volunteers, who gave her vouchers for groceries monthly.<\/p>\n Employment is crucial in giving ex-offenders stability and a pathway to rebuild their lives, said Law Minister and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong.<\/p>\n PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Said Sarah, a property officer: \u201cI\u2019m very thankful to YRCP because they gave us moral support.\u201d<\/p>\n On the front line, being a volunteer is not something seen as attractive to most people, said Mohamad Fariezan Abas, a YRCP champion from the Zhenghua division.<\/p>\n Fariezan was presented with a long service award for his five-year stint which saw him befriend about 60 families of offenders.<\/p>\n Said Fariezan, 42: \u201cI think the stigma still exists, but through Yellow Ribbon events like today, we amplify the work we do to help families impacted by incarceration.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople do make mistakes, but the families need not be punished for the mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Employment is crucial in giving former offenders stability and a pathway to rebuild their lives, working alongside encouragement from families, volunteers and the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/99568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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