Sgt. Ruth Anderson, coordinator of Youth Crime Watch, speaks with a set of students from the Kingston Technical High School about the group's anti-crime community interventions and ways in which they can decrease the incidences of violence in their school community. The Youth Crime Watch team conducted an outreach activity and youth patrol at the school, located on Hanover Street, downtown Kingston, last Wednesday.

Over 500 young people from more than 10 inner-city communities across Kingston have been selected to lead a number of anti-crime initiatives in their various residential and school communities.

They are drawn from two local non-government organisations (NGOs) - Youth Crime Watch Jamaica, a consortium of police youth clubs across Jamaica; and Project SYMBA, which is operated in inner-city communities by Rise Life Management, formerly Addiction Alert.

Both groups, which include several high school students, adolescents and young adults, have been receiving local and overseas training to undertake various peer counselling sessions, conduct anti-violence workshops, and stage drama presentations and seminars in their communities.

The youngsters from Youth Crime Watch have been focusing their activities on decreasing the number of young people involved in crime and violence in their schools through peer and cross-age counselling, mediation, crime reporting and youth patrol.

In their residential communities, the students have been working on social interventions such as drug, violence and crime prevention education, bus safety activities and conflict resolution.

In May, the team received $300,000 in sponsorship from Scotiabank, to attend a conference on preventing crime in black communities in Florida, where they partnered with other youngsters from across the world in a 'think tank' to share ideas on anti-crime strategies.

Outreach activities

The group has been conducting outreach activities in downtown Kingston to reach troubled teens involved in acts of violence.

The most recent of the students' patrol and outreach activities took place on Wednesday when they visited with students from the Kingston Technical High School.

In a separate section of downtown Kingston, Rise Life Management has been working with a team of over 150 youngsters from Waterhouse, Tower Hill, Fletcher's Land, Allman Town and Parade Gardens to act as youth leaders.

They have been conducting life skills counselling, community corner counselling, staging conflict resolution sessions and providing skills training with their peers and older adults. The youngsters also plan independent projects in their community.

The Rise youth outreach team was sponsored by Scotiabank to the tune of $100, 000 to host a private viewing of the ASHE anti-violence play 'Curfew'.

The team invited 220 of their peers and other adults from their communities to view the play.