- Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Dorris Satchell, a sidewalk vendor in Grants Pen, north east St. Andrew, greets officials yesterday. The group, (from right), Morin Seymour, executive director of the Kingston Restoration Co.; Karen Turner, mission director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Jamaica and the Caribbean, and John Wright, office director of the economic growth programme at USAID, had stopped to talk with Miss Satchell during a tour of the community.
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
JUST DRIVING through the Grants Pen/Shortwood communities of north east St. Andrew, one cannot help but see the marked changes in the area, changes that show up in the attitude of the residents, and in clean streets, and newly painted walls.
The new attitude is largely a result of the interventions of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) inner-city development programmes which are designed to attack the twin problems of crime and poverty, using a two-pronged approach: community policing and the Peace and Prosperity Project (PPP).
Sports has also played an integral role in jump-starting change.
"Sports is a medium which brings the people together, it forges bonds between lanes or communities which were once at war," Alrick Sutherland, a community officer at the Peace Centre, said.
The Peace Centre is located on the Shortwood main road with trained mediators who offer counselling and conflict resolution sessions.
"Lanes that were at war such as Shortwood Avenue, a People's National Party area, and Fagan Avenue, a Jamaica Labour Party domain, now have teams competing against each other in football, netball, and cricket in different age groups. It is great what we have been able to achieve," Mr. Sutherland said.
The finals of the cricket competition will be on December 14 during a Family Fun Day at Melbourne Cricket Oval.All of the sporting activities are undergirded by lifestyle lessons in conflict resolution, discipline and unity, Mr. Sutherland explained.
ENTREPRENEURIAL
OPPORTUNITIES
The PPP - piloted by the Kingston Restoration Company (KRC) and the USAID - was set up after a US$2.6 million grant was awarded by the United States Government to the Jamaican Government. Employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for the residents of Grants Pen and Cedar Valley/Standpipe neighbourhoods of St Andrew have been created, and over 100 jobs have been sourced for residents of both communities.
In addition, a monitoring programme is set up to measure and keep track of those who have gained jobs.
"They're doing very well," Denise Erskine-Jones, human resource management consultant to the Peace Centre in Grants Pen, said."The success rate has been very high, and that's because the residents are well prepared before they are sent on interviews. We screen each of them, counsel those who are not immediately employable, and we hold monthly workshops which teach them effective interviewing techniques and how to keep a job once they have acquired it. They are crafted into effective employees," Mrs. Erskine-Jones said.
The training programmes for skilled vocations are held in conjunction with the HEART Trust/NTA. On Friday, Karen Turner, Mission Director of the USAID, toured the Grants Pen area to see the results of the interventions. Representatives of PERF, the KRC, political representatives of the area, and the police force were also in attendance.
