Region 3 targets youth

Member of Parliament for Central Kingston and acting chairman of the People's National Party Region Three, Ronald Thwaites (left) and current chairman of the Region Paul Burke at a press briefing at the party's headquarters in St. Andrew yesterday. - Ian Allen

A $50 MILLION fund targeting young people with business ideas is being proposed by Region Three of the People's National Party (PNP) as a means of slashing unemployment and curbing crime among the nation's youth.

The Region, made up of the 15 Corporate Area constituencies, will propose to the September 20-23 annual conference of the PNP, that Parish Youth Employment and Production Committees be set up in all 14 parishes. Using Government money and drawing on technical support from state agencies, these committees would be responsible for making small grants available to young people who have business ventures which they want to kick-start.

"We are going to propose that $50 million be provided in the first instance to be available through these committees, with priority on urban areas and areas where there is high youth unemployment," said Ronald Thwaites, who has been appointed acting chairman of the Region until Paul Burke returns from leave next January.

Mr. Thwaites told journalists at the party's headquarters yesterday that those young people who would benefit from the funding, have to be supported by an established community group, such as a church, a youth group, a parent teachers association or a citizens association.

He added that the only young men and women who would be considered for the scheme are those who have a "very low level of deviant behaviour and involvement in gang warfare and must be prepared to undergo training".

While explaining that the nuts and bolts of the scheme had not been worked out, Mr. Thwaites said that the Region was looking at having the young people return 20 per cent of the profits from their businesses to a fund that would be used to ensure that the scheme is sustained.

"This could be used for the formation of several youth enterprises... It is an absolutely essential way in which those on the very margins of the society and the economy can be assisted," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Burke, who is on leave from the chairmanship of the Region until January, said every effort would be made to ensure that the initiative would not be coloured by politics. He also dismissed suggestions that the initiative was a political ploy ahead of the general elections, which are constitutionally due by December 2002. According to him, if the plan was about politics "then the young people would see right through it" and it would lose credibility.

The proposal to set up the committees falls within a general call that the Region will make to the party conference for 2001 and 2002 to be designated the Year of the Youth. This, Mr. Thwaites said, was aimed at focusing Government's attention on providing opportunities for youth so they can be pulled back from the fringes of society.

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