WESTERN BUREAU:
More than 400 at-risk youth in several volatile Montego Bay communities will be the focus of a new social intervention programme, dubbed the Montego Bay Human Development Project.
Spearheaded by Dr. Horace Chang, Member of Parliament (MP) for North West St. James, and the Social Development Commission (SDC), the pre-vocational training programme was unveiled at a stakeholders meeting at the Doctor's Cave Beach Club, Montego Bay, last week.
"Montego Bay has almost become the crime centre of Jamaica," Dr. Chang said. "If you employ 500 young men, chances are, five of them are gunmen."
CONCERN FOR LACK OF TRAINING
He said he had been approached, on several occasions, by young men from the communities who were concerned about the lack of training facilities in their communities and who expressed a desire to become trained and qualified individuals.
The communities of Greenpond, Glendevon, Rose Heights, Canterbury and Albion will be the main areas targeted.
The old Glendevon market is the proposed location for the 'Centre of Excellence', and the cost of renovation is estimated at $15 million.
The start-up date of the project, which has been set for the next 12 months, is dependent on funding. However, the HEART Trust/NTA will be funding the training and it is to be coordinated by the SDC.
"I think it is a major step for this project to be coming to the community. I don't think that this is something that they [the organisers] will start and then run away from. I think that, with a little motivation, the youths in the community will welcome it. If we can start with teaching them a skill and then getting them educated, that would really do good for the community," said Nickiesha Montgomery, a Glendevon resident.
