Friends of Our Heartlands Network

HDB’s Friends of Our Heartlands Network nurtures change makers within our towns and neighbourhoods. Volunteers will receive opportunities to channel their skills, knowledge, and resources for the benefit of their community.

Join us as a Friend of Our Heartlands today, and discover the different ways in which you can make a difference. View and sign up for upcoming volunteering opportunities through the HDB Volunteer Management System. Login with your Singpass as an Individual or Institutional volunteer to be part of HDB’s Friends of Our Heartlands Network!

For further queries, send us an email at HDB_Friends_of_Our_Heartlands@hdb.gov.sg.

Cultivate

Promote the spirit of neighbourliness and eco-friendly living within the community.

Promote Gracious and Responsible Heartland Living

Learn - Training
Training for the volunteers
Before you begin your volunteering journey, you will participate in an experiential workshop with skit performances, interactive games, hands-on activities, and role play sessions.
 
You will learn about what contributes to a harmonious and responsible heartland community, and get practical tips on engaging residents.
 
Adult volunteers will also be equipped with mentoring and leadership skills.

Serve - Outreach visits
Outreach visit by the volunteers
It is time to practise what you learnt! Embark on outreach visits to share your knowledge with fellow residents.
 
Adult volunteers will also help to guide and mentor student volunteers during these visits.
 
There are 2 types of outreach visits:
 
  1. Block visits - to a precinct and engage residents personally
  2. Visits at community events – share relevant tips with the community event participants

Initiate - Outreach projects
Outreach project by the volunteers
Start your own projects with the community!
 

Take part in our Lively Places Programme to organise an activity or project for your community!

Here are some ideas to get you started!

  • Initiate your own outreach visits
  • Create an exciting corner in your school to share what you have learnt
  • Conduct upcycling workshops to encourage residents to lead an eco-friendly lifestyle
  • Create innovative games and activities to bring neighbours together

Check out the highlights of the other past projects and events that were conducted!

Join us as a Friend of Our Heartlands if you are:

  • Aged 10 years and above
  • English-speaking, conversational proficiency in Mandarin, other Chinese dialects, Malay or Tamil would be useful but not compulsory
  • Comfortable interacting with people
  • Interested in community events
  • Willing to attend a full-day training session

See our volunteers in action and participants enjoying themselves at our past HDB Eco Learning Journeys!

Activate

Initiate activities that add liveliness to community spaces, and also foster care and neighbourly relations.

Enliven HDB Spaces

Rally your friends and neighbours together to take part in our Lively Places Programme to add liveliness to your community or public spaces.

Friends of Our Heartlands Friends of Our Heartlands

Find out more about Lively Places Programme.

Engage the Elderly

Volunteers join students in SPHERE+ (Students, Singapore Pools and HDB Enriching and Reaching Out to the Elderly) to promote the spirit of volunteerism among youth and foster a mindset of care for seniors living in HDB flats. SPHERE+ aims to encourage community bonding and facilitate interaction between the youth and seniors through social activities such as designing a tote bag, card games, and promoting healthier food options for the elderly.

 

SPHERE+ SPHERE+
SPHERE+ SPHERE+

Join us as a Friend of Our Heartlands if you are:

  • Aged 13 years and above
  • English-speaking, conversational proficiency in Mandarin, other Chinese dialects, Malay or Tamil would be useful
  • Comfortable interacting with the elderly
  • Interested in community events

Facilitate

Facilitate community conversations on neighbourhood improvement projects.

Residents’ suggestions and feedback help ensure that neighbourhood improvement projects meet the needs and aspirations of our communities. Volunteers will work with HDB to plan and execute engagement activities involving residents in determining the usage of spaces and the type of improvement works in their neighbourhood. These engagement activities include facilitating focus group discussions and workshops, or interviewing residents at pop-up roadshows and house visits.

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training.

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training.

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training

Volunteers undergoing the foundational facilitation training.

Past Projects

Build-a-Playground @ Canberra Project

Volunteers joined us in engaging Canberra (Sembawang) residents in designing and building Singapore’s first public community-built playground. Through interviews, a pop-up roadshow, and a design workshop, the volunteers solicited ideas and suggestions from the residents for the theme, design, play components, and name of the playground. With the help of our volunteers, we successfully co-built Singapore’s first public community-built playground with over 2,000 residents.

Volunteers engaging parents and children with survey questions

Volunteers engaging parents and children with survey questions.

Volunteers engaging parents and children with survey questions

Volunteers engaging parents and children with survey questions.

Volunteers engaging residents on the theme of the playground at pop up roadshows

Volunteers engaging residents on the theme of the playground at pop up roadshows.

Volunteers engaging residents on the theme of the playground at pop up roadshows

Volunteers engaging residents on the theme of the playground at pop up roadshows.

Volunteers facilitating the design workshops with residents

Volunteers facilitating the design workshops with residents.

Volunteers facilitating the design workshops with residents

Volunteers facilitating the design workshops with residents.

Remaking Our Heartland 3

To encourage greater community bonding and ownership of public spaces in our estates, HDB will be engaging residents to design social spaces in Toa Payoh, Pasir Ris and Woodlands. Our volunteers have conducted street interviews and pop-up roadshows to garner residents’ inputs on their preferred activities and spaces that could be enhanced. Resident engagement sessions commenced in February 2018 and are projected to continue till mid-2020.

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced.

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced.

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced

Volunteers engaging residents on their preferred spaces that could be enhanced.

Join us as a Friend of Our Heartlands if you are:

  • Aged 17 years and above
  • English-speaking
  • Conversational proficiency in Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, or other dialects would be useful but not compulsory
  • Background knowledge / skills in architecture, landscape architecture, and design would be useful but not compulsory
  • Comfortable approaching and interacting with people
  • Interested in facilitating discussions
  • Willing to attend a 2-day facilitation training session prior to the commencement of any volunteering activity under the ‘Facilitate’ track
  • Willing to volunteer over the weekends