Starting young: Melco’s ‘Teaching Children Values’ program drives youth development

Teaching Children Values” operates under Melco Resorts & Entertainment’s broader “Simple Acts of Kindness” community outreach and volunteering umbrella. The initiative aims to instill in Macau’s children and youth a lifelong commitment to helping others and making a positive impact in the community — focusing on imparting foundational virtues such as respect, empathy, and social responsibility, and operates through targeted workshops, school and NGO partnerships, and collaborative community events. 

Meaningful experiences allow both Melco Colleagues and their children to connect with community beneficiaries, fostering a deeper understanding of challenges faced by others and the difference that kindness and support can make.

Recently, in focusing on “Teaching Children Values”, Melco was awarded for Best Overall CSR Program at 2026 IAG Academy IR Awards. The accolade underlined the initiative’s success and marked a significant milestone in local corporate social responsibility programming. 

Supporting mental wellness: campus drama tour launch

Melco has recognized youth mental wellness as an increasingly pressing issue in Macau and around the world, with school bullying – much of it subtle and easily overlooked – being among the most common and lasting sources of psychological harm.

As part of the Company’s sixth consecutive year of co-organizing the “Feel Better Mental Wellness Program” with the Women’s General Association of Macau, a campus theatre tour focused on youth mental health was launched in late September. The production, titled “Invisible Bullying”, has scheduled an 11-performance run across local schools to explore social dynamics and emotional wellbeing.

Distinguishing that prevention and awareness are key to protecting youth, the project brings the issue directly into schools, using drama to help students recognize and understand the impact of bullying while encouraging wider public attention to related issues.

The tour premiered at Fu Luen School before an audience of approximately 250 students, teaching staff, and faculty members. Unlike a traditional lecture, the play examines the multi-layered issue of bullying from various angles. The script details the psychological experiences of the targeted persons, the role of bystanders in reinforcing or mitigating such situations, and the underlying motivations or stressors affecting aggressors.

Furthermore, the initiative seeks to break the stigma surrounding mental health discussions. The interactive performance sessions are designed to equip educators and youth with practical knowledge for identifying emotional distress, safely intervening when peer conflicts arise, and seeking professional help when needed.

  Cultivating financial literacy and long-term discipline

Beyond emotional wellbeing, Melco’s “Teaching Children Values” framework focuses on practical life skills, targeted specifically at resource management. Recognizing a growing gap in early financial education, the Company organized a comprehensive suite of financial literacy workshops tailored for children and teenagers aged 4-17 over the recent Summer months.

The workshops aimed to teach youth the value of monetary savings and help build smart money habits. By making financial education fun and easy to understand, the sessions also sought to provide tools for parents to talk with their children about money at home. The series involved the “Three Jar Money Saving Concept” workshop targeting a younger audience group, and “Financial Literacy Workshop for Young Generation”, inviting participants to learn financial literacy in creative and innovative ways.

A total of four sessions accumulated nearly 450 hours of direct engagement. Attendees included children of Melco Colleagues and parent-child groups from the local community, such as Associação de Pais e Professores da Escola de Santa Madalena and Teen Ching Integrated Youth Services.

“Nurturing and providing meaningful opportunities for local youth is a core pillar of Melco’s CSR initiatives. Financial literacy is more than just how to save – it is a critical life skill that shapes future wellbeing. Through this program, we are glad to support young people as they build healthy financial habits, enabling them to make informed decisions and navigate their futures with confidence”, said Ms. Akiko Takahashi, Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff to Melco Chairman & CEO.

Community outreach and intergenerational volunteering

The broader calendar of the “Teaching Children Values” program relies heavily on experiential learning, deploying parent-child volunteer teams to take part in hands-on community service projects throughout the year. In 2025, participation numbers were up by 47% from the previous year, with Colleagues and their children taking part in around 75 activities.

Melco continues to promote and support family-friendly volunteering activities through the program, with events including cooking workshops with mentally disabled members, elderly care and hospice ward visits, environmental protection and recycling workshops, movie appreciation sessions to help recognize emotions and support mental wellness, animal shelter volunteering visits, and handicraft workshops to create gifts for showing care to the community.