Hope Project to Aid Children of LayoffsThe Hope Project, a national charity that helps young dropouts in poor areas return to school, is now shifting its focus from villages to cities as more children of laid-off workers have had to abandon their studies.Anshan City in northeast China's Liaoning Province, home to China's steel giant Anshan Iron and Steel Co., has successfully launched a project targeting children of local laid-off workers. The Hope Project in Anshan has built 73 primary schools, 50 libraries and helped over 6,500 children return school with donations of more than 10 million yuan in recent years, said Wang Anping, head of the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC) Anshan Branch. "The Hope Project now will focus on school-age children of laid- off workers who are forced to drop out because of their parents' poor economic condition," said Wang. He pointed out that this new focus will help the children return to school and allow parents to turn their full attention to finding employment. The Hope Project was initiated in 1990 by the China Youth Development Fund under the CYLC. It has received over 1.78 billion yuan (about 214 million U.S. dollars) in donations and sent 2.29 million children back to school over the past decade. |
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