Caribbean News

Child Protection Agency commits to paying Tertiary Fees of State Wards in Jamaica

Published

6 years ago

November 15, 2017

#Jamaica, November 15, 2017 – Mandeville – Chief Executive Officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Rosalee Gage-Grey, has pledged the continued commitment of her organisation to pay the fees for wards in childcare facilities, like Mount Olivet Boys’ Home, who make it to tertiary institutions.

“We have a tertiary-education programme where we give our commitment that every child who matriculates into university, we will ensure that their fees are paid, and so all we say to you boys is, just get into college and we will do the rest,” she said.

Mrs. Gage-Grey was speaking at a church service to mark the 50^th anniversary of the home held at the Mount Olivet United Church in Walderston, Manchester, on Sunday (November 12). She highlighted the successes of children in State care, including the more than 70 students currently in tertiary institutions.

She highlighted the six boys from Mount Olivet who are at Knox Community College, and one who is pursuing a degree at the American University in Paris courtesy of the YB Foundation, spearheaded by Olympian Yohan Blake. Mrs. Gage-Grey commended the United Church for its pioneering role in establishing the home, which provides the children with a safe shelter and love.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service and Member of Parliament for North East Manchester where the home is located, Hon. Audley Shaw, expressed his gratitude for the work of the Church in the community and country.

“They are involved in two children’s homes – one here and the other in St. Mary. Not many contemporary, new churches have taken on an abiding and lasting responsibility to help develop our young people,” Mr. Shaw said.

He said the work of the church is very important in addressing what he considers to be the country’s greatest crisis, that of human underdevelopment.

“We have to develop our people. Our greatest natural asset is our people, and if we fail to develop our people, we fail to develop our country. We cannot achieve prosperity without developing people; prosperity begins not in our pockets but in our minds,” Mr. Shaw pointed out.

He cited his own humble upbringing – growing up in close proximity to the boys’ home, and helping his father on the farm and his mother in her shop, to his present status as finance minister – to show the boys that they, too, can achieve in spite of their circumstances. Mr. Shaw made a donation of $100,000 towards a transition fund for the boys, and $50,000 every year henceforth. The fund assists the boys as they prepare to leave the home at age 18.

Mount Olivet Boys’ Home was established with 40 boys on April 20, 1967 on nine acres of land in the cool hills of Walderston by the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and the Presbyterian Church. Boys aged five to 18 years receive loving care in a home setting that also promotes spiritual development, physical and psychological enhancement, social and recreational development, plus academic and vocational development. The boys attend schools in the area, including Holmwood Technical, Mizpah Primary, Christiana High School, Knox College and Spalding High School.

Also in attendance at the service were members of the Atlanta-Jamaica partnership, the YB Foundation and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), which has adopted the home since 2009.

Release: JIS

Caribbean News

STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS EXPECTED TO ASSIST GOV’T PLANNING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Published

2 days ago

April 30, 2024

Shanieka

KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.

This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.

“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.

He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).

Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.

“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.

“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.

Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.

Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.

The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.

The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.

NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.

CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON

Caribbean News

Haiti- ECHO humanitarian efforts

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff writer

#Haiti#Crisis#HumanitarianEfforts#ECHO, April 23rd, 2024 – Due to the worsening Humanitarian crisis in Haiti with an increase in death toll and injured people, The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), launched an emergency airlift of 5 flights carrying essentials which include up to 62 tons of medicine as well as emergency shelter equipment, and water and sanitation items. These were brought to Cap Haitien according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on April 19, as the international Airport in Port au prince remains closed following the gang attack last month.

Caribbean News

Dominica repeals laws criminalizing gay sex

Published

3 days ago

April 29, 2024

Shanieka

Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

#Dominica#LGBTQIA, April 24, 2034- Dominica has decided to remove colonial era laws that criminalized gay sex, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.

This comes almost five years after a man of the queer community, whose identity was withheld for his safety, spoke out against Dominica’s laws in 2019, saying they violated his rights.