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THE positive relationship between literacy and reduced violence seems almost crystal clear when one observes the impact of the Learning Net Works (LNW) project of the “think-and-do” tank, Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA), and the Ministry of Health.

The project was launched in 2010 with vital support from the JN Foundation, which provided computers and funding to purchase the licence for the literacy software, AutoSkills. The devices were distributed to several inner-city communities and have changed the lives of young people, some of whom initially struggled to identify letters, but are now pursuing tertiary education.

Not all the students make it, VPA Executive Director Dr Elizabeth Ward admitted. However, she said most who have grasped the content of the software, display improved social skills, and are often less prone to violence than their peers.

“It seems they become a lot calmer, and this what I am really interested in,” the researcher said.

Dr Ward and her team established the LNW project against the background of the country’s continuously harsh social climate, made chronic by increasing crime and violence.

The records indicate that, with some 41 murders per 100,000 people, Jamaica has the fifth highest rate of murders in the world, falling behind Belize, which has the highest murder rate in the Caribbean Community, the expert pointed out. And it has been determined, she said, that many of Jamaica’s problems are rooted in lack of education.

“When you examine cohorts of students going through the educational system, by the time they reach grade nine, 27 per cent of them have dropped out,” said Dr Ward. “It is assumed that a lot of them have migrated, or have moved to another school, however, we know that many of them are on the street corners smoking,”

“More than 51 per cent of youngsters who were enrolled in high school did not sit or pass exams,” she continued, highlighting Ministry of Education data. “And the problem is more acute in western Jamaica, now faced with high levels of violence, where recent data indicates that the dropout rate is higher than in the Kingston Metropolitan Region.

“Western Jamaica has double the rate of high school drop- outs. Financial issues are high on the list as one of the contributory factors, but boredom in school is also high,” Dr Ward revealed. “Students are simply bored with the school curriculum, and it’s not meeting their needs.”

Conscious of this data, the epidemiologist and her team approached faith-based organisations and community centres to establish a series of facilities that would be positioned as learning centres to assist young people to improve themselves.

“We got the computers and Jamaica National donated the software,” said Dr Ward, as she chronicled the genesis of the project, which currently spans 10 facilities serving more than 20 inner-city communities in the Corporate Area, and the Source Resource sentre in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

The project started with two learning centres at the Healthy Ones Lifestyle Youth (HOLY) Network on Barry Street in downtown Kingston; and in Rose Town, an inner- city community in south St Andrew.

“I’ve used the AutoSkills programme to take persons from zero up, and those same persons I’ve been able to sit and pass the HEART/NTA entry exam,” explained Rev Daval James Bell, who operates the HOLY Network, a facility which offers a variety of programmes for at-risk youth, ages 13 to 19 years old primarily, but extends to those 20 – 29 who are parents in Kingston’s inner cities.

Marvin and Dominic, are among some of the youngsters, who have emerged successfully after teaching themselves to read using the AutoSkills programme at the HOLY Network Centre. The two, who are children of well-known community dons, entered the facility as barely literate teens at age 14, but moved on to pursue tertiary education at a technical institute.

“Marvin joined us straight from the streets; and Dominic came from school, where he was about to be expelled,” Rev Bell recalled.

As the youngsters learned to read using the AutoSkills programme, Rev Bell also assisted them to pursue subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level, with the help of the Citizens Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), which included mathematics and English Language. Then to a technical tertiary institution where they completed courses at The University of the West Indies School of Continuing Studies. Marvin graduated last year and is permanently employed to a regional petroleum company. However, both young men continue to work with the HOLY Network, mentoring other young people who have challenges similar to theirs.

“It’s a great programme,” Rev Bell underscored, commenting on the practicality of the AutoSkills programme, a core component of the Learning Net Works programme.

“AutoSkills is about playing games or solving puzzles. However, one is really learning to read and write and grasp mathematics. Because it is fun and it’s on the computer, you don’t immediately realise that you are learning to type, use a mouse, and grasp concepts,” Bell explained.

The programme promotes students through stages, first diagnosing their literacy levels, and then moving them along as they master each stage.

“The programme is rewards-based. It’s focused on whatever you do right and not what you do wrong,” Dr Ward explains. “And then there is no punitive teacher. The students work on their own until they master it,” Dr Ward said, explaining that the adolescent brain is rewards-driven and punishment-averse.

The knowledge the students gain is complemented by personal development initiatives to develop their social skills at HOLY Network which focuses on their individual holistic need.

“It’s not always so straight- forward,” Rev Bell, however, cautioned. “You give them an education, but there are some personal skills you have to develop,” he added, pointing to the need to also develop their social and life skills.

“It helped me to build up my self-confidence,” commented 22-year-old Nadia Burke of Denham Town who joined the HOLY Network at age 13, after being expelled from high school in 2008. The teenage mother, who says she could recognise very few words when she entered the programme, improved her literacy using the AutoSkills software.

As a result, she was able to sit three subjects at the CSEC level, which she passed with distinctions and credit; and those qualifications later allowed her to enroll in the HEART Trust/NTA programme to study hospitality.

Burke continues to work as a mentor and office manager at HOLY Network, while pursuing additional CSEC qualifications.

“Autoskills along with the HOLY Network helped me so that I can be there for other kids; therefore, I advise them that they don’t have to follow company. They can be better,” Burke said.

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SHE is peaceful, passionate, happy, and always trying to change something or herself.

Born in Guyana and raised there for a short period before moving to Trinidad and then Jamaica, Onyka Barrett, an activist, volunteer and change agent, told All Woman that she witnessed her grandmother care for everyone around her.

“In the house I had my great-grandma who was bedridden, my grandmother’s two daughters, and their children. She [my grandmother] took care of everything. She was the centre of it all. My memory of her is someone who was always doing something for someone or the family, so subconsciously I was looking and noticing but never realised the impact it had on me,” she said.

Subsequently, like many children, Barrett dreamed of becoming a doctor, lawyer or pilot. But when her family relocated to Trinidad and she met Barbara Jenkins — her environmental studies teacher in secondary school — her career focus changed forever.

“She organised a field trip to Greenpeace, The Rainbow Warrior II that was visiting Trinidad at the time, and when I went to that ship that’s when everything about me changed. I never wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer anymore. I was interested in being an activist and trying to save the earth.

“They took us on a little boat out to the ship and they took us down in the hull and straight around the perimeter. They had pictures of different campaigns they had been fighting for, different issues they were trying to deal with. One man in particular was telling us the stories behind the campaigns and I became conscious of a lot of things outside of my narrow scope. He showed me directly things happening in other parts of the world that never connected to me before,” she said.

And so, with this newfound interest, Barrett, at the age of 14, became involved in volunteerism and joined her school’s Duke of Edinburgh programme, which required voluntary work in order to matriculate to higher levels.

After leaving secondary school, Barrett worked in the corporate world for approximately 12 years, but did voluntary work on the side on human rights issues and the rights of the child through non-governmental organisations and government agencies such as Is There Not A Cause? and the Ministry of Social Development, Trinidad, as well as CUSO International, through the Ministry of Justice, Jamaica.

“I’ve always been volunteering and I’ve done it at different levels. I’ve done the Hands and Feet from working in Haiti, I’ve done it at the national level, there was CUSO International where regionally we looked at how to ensure that volunteerism lived and people were still interested in it and felt it was still a good thing to do. Getting involved helps me actualise the dreams I have to drive it across the Caribbean.”

Barrett, who holds a bachelor’s degree in human resource management from Anglia Ruskin University, UK, and an international diploma in humanitarian assistance from Fordham University, USA, has also volunteered in Kenya and Ghana, which she says gave her a greater appreciation for the field of volunteerism.

Given the name Furaha, which is Swahili for joy and happiness, while in Kenya, Barrett is currently the partnerships and development manager at Jamaica National Foundation, where she is charged with connecting with the right people at the right time to create change, which she says coincides with her own values.

Also a self-proclaimed globetrotter, Barrett said her interest in traveling comes from the need to understand people in order to build her own empathy and be part of their change process.

“If I’m going out into the field to help, I have to appreciate that this person is coming with their own ideas. From a young age I had desired traveling, and every time a plane passed my home I would run to the window to see the plane, but I never imagined being on that plane. My first trip was coming to Jamaica through the Duke of Edinburgh to hike the Blue Mountains. My dad made a sacrifice and sent me and I thank him each day, as it made a huge difference in how I understood myself. I wanted to go places, see people, understand people, and not just live it through a book,” she said.

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One of the country’s leading education professionals, Dr Renee Rattray, has urged teachers to acknowledge themselves as “superheroes” as they carry out their daily tasks both inside and outside of the classroom.

“When you step into a room, people know, or when you open your mouth, people ask: Are you a teacher? If that doesn’t happen, it should,” Rattray underscored to nods of agreement from the roughly 1,000 educators attending the one-day Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Helen Stills’ Professional Development Day seminar at the Hyatt Ziva in Rose Hall, St James, recently.

Noting the significant impact teachers continue to have on the society, Dr Rattray, director of education programmes at the JN Foundation, charged educators to hark back to the days when students reverred teachers, arguing that they ought to fiercely protect the brand of the profession.

“I’m on a mission to rebrand the profession. We have to ensure that today’s students look up to us in the same way our parents looked up to their teachers,” she charged.

Dr Rattray, who manages the comprehensive school leadership programme, iLead, administered by the JN Foundation, said, as superheroes, educators must pay attention to and work on developing their image and never be afraid to ask for help.
“It’s very important for us to represent. And, if we don’t know how to do something, we should find out. And if we don’t know and that’s not our thing, then we find the right person to do it,” she advised.

“We must always present ourselves on the basis that: only the best is good enough.”

She advised educators that as superheroes, they should be confident and not afraid to criticise their colleagues when they fail to meet standards; and, similarly, should not fear being criticised when they are not meeting the minimum professional criteria. She noted that teachers must raise expectations for themselves and their colleagues constantly, and that they must always be learning by observing each other and sharpening their skills set.

“That’s what superheroes do,” she said.

“What you were yesterday is not good enough today. Therefore, you always have to be doing more, learning more. Your colleagues must know what you stand for and you must always be striving to ensure that every single thing that we do as teachers is excellent that way the brand will remain high,” she underscored.

Within that context, she called for teachers to also raise the expectations of their students to improve their performance and, to rubbish the concept of failure. She said educators must develop zero-tolerance for underperformance and should not accept excuses.

“This thing about that is ‘so dem stay’ and is ‘so di thing set’… or, they are not academically inclined…we have to mash down that lie!” the JN Foundation education programmes director exclaimed.

“As superheroes those ‘weapons of mass distraction’ should not overtake us!”

Acknowledging that a lack of resources does create serious challenges that affect school performance, Dr Rattray went on to note that it is important for educators to learn basic project management skills so that they can prepare good proposals that will attract investors and funding.

“The scarce resources will not change overnight and students need our help. There are people who want to donate; but sometimes we don’t ask for what we want, or we are not prepared for what we want,” she stated. “We have to market ourselves and behave like we are a ‘big school.’”

Using the story of the National Mathematics Teacher of the Year, O’Neal McLeod of Godfrey Stewart High in Westmoreland, to make her final point, Dr Rattray charged teachers to motivate each other. She urged them to begin to tell their own stories, to drive excellence, and promote professionalism and good standards as well as, to ensure that the stories about the teaching profession are positive.

“He is a living superhero,” she said of the former barber and sugar worker who, through motivation from colleagues, his wife and teachers, pursued his secondary education as an adult and then his tertiary qualifications. He was recently recognised by the Ministry of Education and Jamaica National Building Society as the 2016 National Mathematics Teacher of the Year after entering the profession less than four years ago.

“Each of us sitting here can do those things. We can all help each other to develop our super powers,” she closed to a standing ovation.

One of the country’s leading professionals on educational leadership, Dr Renee Rattray, director of education programmes at the Jamaica National Foundation, says principals must be sufficiently aware of issues in their schools – a situation which the educator says may diminish their capacity to motivate and empower staff if they are not.

The former school principal, speaking during the launch of the South Manchester Principals’ Association at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville, Manchester, last Thursday, said principals have to be armed with more knowledge and capacity than other members of their team.

“Apart from being CEO, because you’re running one of the biggest and most difficult institutions known to man, you have to understand that you are the chief learning officer, and that means you need to be a step ahead of your teachers,” she said.

“And very often, as I go around the country and meet principals, many are not managing learning in a way that demonstrates that they are a level above the people they lead,” Rattray declared.

Although accepting that principals won’t know everything, the former school inspector said that principals and school leaders must demonstrate a certain level of awareness and capability.

OPEN TO LEARN

“You must know who to pull and who to bring in to support you. You must be willing and open to learn, to share, and to admit that you don’t know certain things,” she pointed out.

” You must demonstrate an interest in learning. Chief learning officers have to be on top of the game,” she reiterated.

In that vein, Rattray said principals and school leaders must demonstrate increased interest in the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms, noting that observations and feedback to teachers are important.

“You don’t learn to teach in teachers’ college. You learn to teach by observing others, by collaboration, and by constant self-reflection,” she posited.

“I find that in many of the schools we visit, that the principals don’t give teachers enough support. Yet, they become frustrated with their performance and want even to fire them without doing everything in their power to help the teacher to reach his or her full potential. When you go in to observe teachers, you should provide them with meaningful feedback, write them a note about what needs to be improved, send them a video to inspire them …,” Rattray underscored.

She said that in the final analysis, not only students should benefit from having value-added knowledge, but also teachers.

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In three years, the social enterprise landscape in Jamaica, which comprises businesses and entrepreneurs whose for-profit entities generate income to fulfill a social mission has undergone a seismic shift.

The change emerged as a direct result of the drive by the country’s growing social enterprise base, which includes: the joint United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and JNBS Foundation’s, Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI); the Social Enterprise Institute; the School of Social Entrepreneurship and the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship and Equity, to reposition funding for charity operations.

“The response to the use of for-profit business models to support social causes has shifted,” says Saffrey Brown, general manager, JN Foundation, “as participants in the social sector are now aware of the concept of social enterprise.”

Consequently, the two-year extension of the programme by USAID; and the recent call for submission of applications by the Foundation, have resulted in more than 110 entries.

“We are buoyed by the response to our call for applications,” Miss Brown said, “As this means that SEBI has overcome the initial hurdle of defining the social enterprise model to members of the nonprofit community.

It is also an indication that entrepreneurs now recognise the unique opportunity for income generation, job creation and economic empowerment which social enterprise can offer.”

The more than 100 applications submitted included companies and organisations in sectors including: tourism, education, health and wellness, arts and entertainment. And, the individual entities are seeking to address issues such as: the socialisation of unattached young people, recidivism, unemployment among persons in rural and marginalised communities; as well as, training and capacity building.

Miss Brown noted that examples of social enterprise success can be found throughout the history of Jamaica,“Whether the Fisherman’s Cooperatives or nonprofit organisations, such as the Jamaican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA).”

However, she emphasised that, “Initiatives similar to SEBI are essential to the successful integration of the model, on a much wider scale. In light of dwindling donor funds, self-sufficiency should be the main focus of the non-profit sector; and, therefore, social enterprise provides the best opportunity for funds to be realised.”

During the initial phase of SEBI the eight pioneers, who participated in the incubator, have now generated more than $37 million in revenue; employed some 130 community members; and launched approximately 15 new products and services, thus achieving their growth initiative.

“Both the response and results in the sector affirm that social enterprise is an idea whose time has come,” Miss Brown affirmed.

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If the walls of the Victoria Jubilee Hospital could talk, they would probably be expressing profuse gratitude to members of the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation following a massive clean-up exercise that took place there yesterday.

The JN Foundation’s objective was to focus on the Government’s thrust of getting rid of breeding sites in light of the mosquito-borne diseases that have been plaguing Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. It was the same theme driving other clean-up activities that The Gleaner visited during its Labour Day tour in Kingston yesterday.

Rose Miller, grants manager at the foundation, told The Gleaner that as a corporate entity, they were big on giving sustainable contribution towards the development of country.

“At JN Foundation, this is a part of what we do. We are not afraid to get dirty, whether we are managers or not. We are partnering with the hospital to eradicate the debris and other breeding sites because we have to play our part as well,” she said.

“Our Action Volunteers pride themselves on assisting persons. Sometimes you might not have money, but once you have willing hands, you can get much done, especially as it relates to the health sector. The Government cannot do it alone,” Miller declared.

GRATEFUL FOR CONTRIBUTION

Jacqueline Ellis, acting chief executive officer of the hospital, was grateful for the contribution, also noting that the country was at risk of being greatly impacted by mosquito-borne diseases.

“Partnership is important in order for us to provide access to quality service that we pride ourselves on. Patient care is very important, and having JN partner with us on this Labour Day is significant,” Ellis said.

“Just recently, I was watching a documentary that spoke to the number of persons who died as a result of mosquito-borne diseases, so as a health entity, we have to ensure that the place is kept clean and free of breeding sites,” she continued.

A similar activity was taking place at Allman Town Primary School in Kingston as Guardian General Insurance Jamaica Limited partnered with the institution in enhancing its surroundings.

Kandi Lee Crooks-Smith, principal of the school, noted that it was a good day for education in Jamaica.

“What really stood out was the fact that before the holiday, representatives from the company actually came to the school to ask the students what issues they were having. The students are the ones who pointed out areas they think would require their assistance and attention,” Crooks-Smith said.

“As such, they are here painting the outside of the school and they have also added hand rails to the stairways. They will also be improving our garbage-disposal space, putting drums in an outside area. This means the truck will not have to come on the school compound. That has had its set of problems due to the fact that the compound is small and the students having to inhale all that scent, so we are truly grateful,” she continued.

President of the group, Karen Bhoorasingh, told The Gleaner that a major objective of the organisation was to assist schools across the island through their 15-in-five project. This means the group will spend $15 million in five years on projects.

“The students themselves told us what they wanted, and while we can’t do everything in one go, we intend to support this institution as much as we can, because nothing is better than having students working in a clean and conducive environment,” she said.

Juici Patties and the Optimist Club of Kingston Central also partnered with St Aloysius Primary School in Kingston, painting the rails and various facilities at the institution.

jodi-ann.gilpin@gleanerjm.com

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Dressing the part is just as important as making your professional mark in the corporate world. But unfortunately, while many young women strive to look chic and trendy, this ambition is often hindered by budgetary constraints, due to the often high costs associated with career wear.

Dress for Success Jamaica is solving this problem through its boutique which retails clothing for the fashion-conscious corporate woman. Located at the Seymour Park complex in St Andrew, the store’s core mission is to provide at low cost professional wear for underprivileged young women who are about to enter the working world.

Opened over a year ago, the boutique retails lightly worn pieces of donated clothing. Dispelling the negative stereotypes surrounding thrift stores, Dress for Success Jamaica provides designer and in vogue contemporary clothes for those who are looking to appease their fashion tastes on a limited budget.

“The items we have on sale are donated pieces. However, they are in exceptional condition, and some have never been worn and still include the tags. We receive outfits from professional women locally and overseas,” noted Charmaine Lewis, founder of Dress for Success Jamaica. “Therefore, when persons visit the store they are always in awe.”

She pointed out that most persons are not prepared for the ambience of the store; and many presume that they would be looking at dowdy or worn-out clothing. “But our boutique demonstrates that looking good can be extremely affordable. We also have many clients, including those who we had outfitted for interviews or to start new jobs, returning to us to build their work wardrobe because even though they may be restricted financially, they still want to maintain a professional image.”

Dress for Success Jamaica is a beneficiary of the JN Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development-funded Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI), which resulted in the operators of 10 social enterprises being trained and mentored to lead profitable and sustained businesses.

Lewis told Flair that based on the recommendations coming out of SEBI, the boutique was conceptualised to lead a more profitable and sustainable venture, to support the funding of their social missions.

“When Dress for Success Jamaica started, our primary focus was to provide underprivileged young women with professional attire to enter the workforce.

However, we were constantly faced with the challenge of overhead costs. Therefore, while participating in the SEBI programme, we came up with the concept for this store as a part of the solution, to be able to generate income to finance our core social mission,” she explained.

Dress for Success Jamaica also opened its Image Training Centre

recently. The training centre offers professional training to individuals and organisations at a minimum cost.

“We have learnt a lot from the SEBI programme, which emphasised the importance of being accountable, transparent, and self-reliant, so that we can generate our own income to sustain our social mission; and that is what we are doing through our boutique and training centre,” Lewis declared.

The boutique currently retails clothing from junior to plus sizes; shoes and accent pieces for the office. With a growing clientele, the store is also welcoming continued donations for additional inventory for the boutique, and to support young women in need of initial attire to enter the workforce.

Take a look at how you can step in style on a budget!

Dress for Success is located at:

Unit 20, Seymour Park,

2 Seymour Avenue,

Telephone: 547-4356

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/flair/20160509/dress-success-budget