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Action for Urban Kids

The China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF), established on July 28, 1981, was the first national-level non-profit organization in the Chinese mainland. CCTF aims to assist children and teenagers' education and welfare, particularly in impoverished areas and the minority nationality regions.

Together with the All-China Women's Federation, CCTF has made great contributions to children's education and welfare and enjoys a growing reputation. It has acted to relieve natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, while establishing kindergartens, welfare institutes for children, orphanages, nurseries and children's activity centres.

In 1989, CCTF set up a scholarship for girls to enter a higher school, and at the same time organized the Spring Bud social welfare activity to aid girls deprived of education to go back to school. Spring Bud courses were organized to teach these girls practical skills and a special fund was created as well to support these courses and help their graduates to start a new life. Spring Bud now covers the whole of China with 1.35 million beneficiaries.

In May 2000, CCTF launched the Enkon project (or China Children Safe and Healthy Growth project), aiming to keep children from dropping out of school, protect them from illness and injury and stop them committing crimes. Over the last three years, the Enkon project has been implemented in schools and urban communities through the Enkon Distance Learning Classroom and Enkon Home.

The Enkon project has two major elements: collecting donations for the children unable to get education, and promoting safe and healthy lifestyles among urban children. It is now focusing on community service using bulletin boards and non-profit courses - an innovative approach compared with other non-profit projects aiding children.

By the end of 2004, 100 bulletin boards had been set up in different communities throughout urban Beijing. Each board has at least one article concerning psychological issues, adolescent crime, unintentional injuries and other such topics. These articles are carefully chosen from various publications and are replaced by new ones every two months. Sponsors or donors of such boards pay 10,000 yuan per month for an advertisement on the board. This sum covers the maintenance and renovation fees for the bulletin boards.

Community non-profit courses mainly provide information on how to live a healthy and safe life from professional educators or psychologists. A one-day activity only requires sponsorship of 3,000 yuan. Sponsors are entitled to name the activity and distribute company profiles and small gifts.