Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
From left to right: Hewitt Walker, National Youth Service (NYS) Corporate Services Specialist; Trevene Vassell, participant; Garth McKoy, partcipant; Omar Steer, NYS Corporate Services Officer St. James and Dwayne Barrett share a laugh shortly after the launch of the NYS Norwood Summer Employment Project in Montego Bay, on Monday August 21. - Claudine Housen/Staff Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
In a bid to stem the tide of crime in the community of Norwood, St. James, the National Youth Service (NYS) has partnered with members of the community to launch a summer employment programmes.
The two-week programme, which targets high school students in and around the community of Norwood, will provide work for 41 students both as a means of providing financial assistance for back-to-school purchases as well as to positively influence children at risk of being affected by violent crimes.
According to NYS Corporate Services Specialist, Hewitt Walker, while it is not common for the NYS to target specific communities, the organisation felt it necessary to create a special activity for youth living in Norwood.
"At the National Youth Service we usually work with Jamaican youth generally, however, as a result of certain situations that are happening in the Norwood community we at NYS decided that we wanted to be a part of anything that is happening positively in the community," he said.
"As a result of this a summer programme was envisioned for the youth of the Norwood community and that is why we are here this (yesterday) morning to officially launch this programme for the young men and women of Norwood."
The project will take the form of painting and repairs to the Central Basic School as well as the repainting of five community welcome signs across Norwood. For their efforts the youngsters will be paid a stipend of $ 2,500 per week. They will be assisted in their tasks by three trades men.
A volatile inner-city community located on the outskirts of Montego Bay, Norwood and it environs account for over 80 per cent of the murders in St. James over the past four years ñ with the most recent being the gruesome July 5 murder of five persons in one night of terror.
