Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
CORPORATE AREA youngsters in at least one inner-city community are receiving academic and skills training opportunities through the Second Chance programme run by the Police Community Relations Department.
Senior Police Superintendent L.K. Simpson started the programme as a small photography project. Success led to its expansion into the Second Chance programme.
A pilot programme was started about two-and-half years ago in the volatile August Town, St. Andrew community. Mr. Simpson said he was encouraged by the interest shown by the youngsters, and he pitched the idea to the Police High Command.
"There were a lot of killings, and so I figured we needed to divert the attention of the youngsters from violence," he explained last week. "So we started the pilot programme there."
The programme, which has drawn on the resources of police officers, also gets help from professionals from the University of the West Indies and HEART.
The youngsters, some of whom are not literate although completing school, attend classes at the Half Way Tree police station and Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.
Individuals, including those who have had criminal backgrounds and others "who never had a first chance," are targeted, Mr. Simpson said.
Mr. Simpson said that Kelloggs (a United States-based company which makes cereal), through its local representative, has provided funding which has allowed the programme to expand, benefitting more youngsters and increasing the skills-training areas.
Willingness to learn
"In the next two weeks we will be starting a course in screen printing at the Police Officers Club," Mr. Simpson said. "There have also been courses in floral arrangement, and we now have an agreement with HEART where woodwork, carpentry and joinery are taught in the evenings to persons who would not have qualified for the full-time day programme."
Second Chance is also aiming to develop youngsters' skills in netball, basketball and football, utilising community infrastructure and making improvements where it is needed. A benefactor, Tanisha Hibbert, fancies herself as a good netballer and hopes to one day play for a club and even Jamaica.
"I did not pass any subject when I left school and I now have the chance to do something other than just have a baby," she said on Thursday.
Training is at no cost to the youngsters, and "only a willingness to learn, discipline and ambition are required," Mr. Simpson said.
