The idea for the Central Singapore Joint Social Service Centre (CS JSSC) was first mooted by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong (then Prime Minister) in 1996. He envisioned a joint body that would enable Self-Help Groups and community organisations to pool resources and draw on synergies to reach out to all Singaporeans.

Rising to the challenge, the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) – Chinese Development Assistance Council, Yayasan Mendaki, Singapore Indian Development Association, The Eurasian Association, Singapore and Association of Muslim Professionals worked together with the Central Singapore Community Development Council to have the CS JSSC operational by 1997.

The CS JSSC played a purposeful role in providing social services and enrichment programmes reaching out to all ethnic groups. Since inception, the Centre had reached out to thousands of children, youth and the elderly of all races in the community.

OnePeople.sg was established in 1997 to promote racial harmony and spearhead programmes and initiatives to bring the different ethnic communities together. Formerly known as the Central Singapore Joint Social Service Centre, the organisation was repositioned and given a new identity – OnePeople.sg. On 27 May 2007, OnePeople.sg was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as an organisation that champions racial harmony initiatives in Singapore.

OnePeople.sg aims to facilitate deeper understanding of race relations. Our youth driven initiatives foster an appreciation for diversity and nurture cross-cultural exchanges. We provide a conducive environment for youths from different cultural backgrounds to learn about diversity, dialogue, build friendships and lead racial harmony efforts. Our desire through these approaches is to develop youths to be advocates and ambassadors.

OnePeople.sg community engagement programmes serve to build capacity among stakeholders. These include educators, community, religious and grassroots leaders and members who have a significant influence on community relations. Our programmes are tailored towards gearing our stakeholders to better understand issues, trends and developments concerning community integration. We provide capacity building programmes in areas such as religious diversity, conflict resolution, ground sensing and new media engagement to enhance ground efforts.