Stepping Stones’ first ever Community Centre opens on 1 November 2025
After nearly 20 years of recruiting and training volunteers to teach disadvantaged children at schools and community centres in Shanghai and beyond, Stepping Stones is proud to announce the opening of its very first community centre, at Aibo Qicun in Huacao Township, Minhang District, in collaboration with the local neighbourhood committee. This new chapter builds on two decades of experience and reflects our deep commitment to the community where our organization is registered and where local government and community stakeholders have supported us for many years.
Function
Stepping Stones’ Community Centre will offer a safe, welcoming and nurturing space for children to come to do their homework, read books and play with other children after school, at the weekend and during the school holidays. It will be an inspiring learning environment, with training opportunities for children in 21st century skills, such as Stepping Stones’ core subjects of English, digital literacy, social-emotional learning (SEL), delivered in a fun yet professional way.
Beneficiaries
The Centre lies at the heart of a community where many migrant workers live and work, equidistant from two local schools for migrant children, which have hosted Stepping Stones’ programs for almost two decades. The primary beneficiaries of the program will be the children of migrant workers, whose families often struggle to provide them with a quality education for socio-economic reasons.
These children’s families will benefit from access to parenting classes and other support resources at the centre, including potentially support and advice for children with special educational needs. There will also be volunteering and potentially future employment opportunities for interested and motivated parents and other caregivers in the community.
Centre opening times
The soft opening of the centre will be on 1 November 2025. The centre will host children after school from Monday to Friday and throughout the day on weekends for around 12 weeks in each spring and summer term. We will also provide programs for children during the summer and winter holidays, for 6 and 2 weeks respectively.
Get Involved
In addition to our regular volunteers who teach English, Digital Literacy, and Social-emotional Learning at the Centre, we are now recruiting Community Center Assistants to support our staff in supervising and engaging children during their daily activities.
If you are interested in teaching English, Digital Literacy, or Social-emotional Learning in Shanghai including our Center, please visit our Volunteer page for more information.
Community Centre Assistant
- Role:
- Care for children after school and at the weekend.
- Assist children with homework, read books and play with them.
- Help centre staff to keep the centre clean and tidy, and keep good discipline.
- Assist teaching volunteers in the classroom.
- Requirements:
- 15 years and above
- Fluent in Chinese
- Able to commit to attending once per week at least eight times per term
- Responsible, reliable and ready to help
- Volunteer needs: 4 volunteers each at the following times
- Monday – Friday 5-7pm
- Saturday – Sunday 8.30-11.30am and 1:00-4:30pm
- Location: Minhang District, Shanghai.
- Stepping Stones will provide professional training and volunteer certification for all volunteers, including the recording and validation of service hours on our online volunteer platform.