SkillsFuture Advice, the free career and skills guidance run at Singapore’s five Community Development Councils, will be renamed Careers & Skills for Community from 1 December 2026. The Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA) and the five CDCs have renewed the partnership behind it for another three years, with a target of 50,000 participants a year.
Minister Desmond Lee launched the renewal on 16 October at SkillsFuture Festival @ South West at Westgate. Mr Lee, Minister for Education and Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration, was joined by South West District Mayor Low Yen Ling.
What changes on 1 December
The scheme keeps its job as a first point of contact for residents: career guidance, training advice and employment support, with referrals onward to SWDA programmes, courses and job services. Under the new name, it will also cover career health and the use of AI at work, on top of lifelong learning and skills development.
Delivery stays with Lifelong Learning Singapore, the SWDA subsidiary that runs the sessions with the CDCs.
The change follows SWDA’s 16 September opening of Connect by SWDA at the Lifelong Learning Institute, which merged the former Lifelong Learning Exploration Centre and Careers Connect into one walk-in centre. For residents between jobs, the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support payouts for active job search run as a separate national scheme.
AI ambassadors in the South West
South West CDC also signed a three-year partnership with the Singapore AI Association to bring AI learning to more than 3,000 residents. It starts an AI Ambassador network with 15 volunteers, who will help neighbours pick up everyday AI tools.
The district is also putting close to 10,000 job openings in front of residents through the South West Community Job Fair and the South West District Job Bank.
Two more festival stops this month
SkillsFuture Festival 2026 runs from 16 September to 28 October with more than 140 events, and two district stops remain. Both carry Careers & Skills Advisors on site.
- North West, 23 and 24 October: 10am to 7pm at Northpoint City South Atrium, organised by Lifelong Learning Singapore with North West CDC. The focus is on digital and care jobs, with employers including Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, CBM and UEMS Solutions, and on-site job interviews.
- North East, 27 and 28 October: 10am to 5pm at Our Tampines Hub, Level 1 and the Level 2 SPACE. More than 18 employers take part across the two days, with training providers offering the SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme and SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme.
The North East stop also launches a Community AI Literacy Workshop series at 11am on 28 October, a free basic AI course for residents of the district. The festival closes the same day.
