NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2022 9 jamaica AT to Adenike Stephenson, project manager, Positive Youth Transformation Project, in Montego Bay, St James, creating an environment in which young people can achieve their ambitions will help to decrease the dominance of criminal activity in their respective communities. Stephenson said young people are not born criminals so if they are provided with the opportunity to live an honest, decent, and productive life, they will, in fact, take that path. She was the hands and feet behind the successful programme that saw 80 at-risk youth benefiting from intensive interventions to reduce their risk of becoming involved in crime and violence, while affording them a livelihood. Stephenson’s in-depth expertise in youth engagement and crime prevention facilitated a robust and rounded intervention strategy, in which the youth can benefit from a suite of psychosocial interventions, balanced with vocational skills training, job placement and entrepreneurship development. “The programme was designed to target young people to keep them from getting involved in crime and violence. The more young people we keep away from that lifestyle, the more gangs will not be able to recruit them, and they will gravitate less towards that lifestyle,” Stephenson said. As with other communities in St James, Stephenson said there is a high level of scamming. With the communities of Flankers and Salt Spring continuously on the radar as hotspots, Stephenson said they targeted the youths that were most vulnerable when they looked at the high risk. More males were also targeted because as the data show, more males are victims and perpetrators. “Anytime there is a flare-up, there is a ripple effect on a lot of communities as well as the country on a whole. The situation that you find underground is the presence of gang defiance, shooting and murders. You find issues of neglect for children, truancy, and you find a number of children who are not performing well in school because of the effect that violence has on them,” Stephenson said. This project was implemented in collaboration with several stakeholders including the Social Development Commission, National Council on Drug Abuse, Victim Services Division, Peace Management Initiative Western, HEART/NSTA Trust and various private sector companies. A total of 181 potential clients were screened fromboth communities. One hundred of those screened were from Salt Spring and 66 from Flanker. One hundred and eleven applicants were found to be medium to high risk from which 80 were selected for development of case plans and treatment. The results were astounding, with 90 per cent of the beneficiaries remaining in the project at closing, and 75 per cent reflecting significantly reduced risk factors; 17 youth securing permanent employment; and 19 youth successfully completing business development training and starting their own businesses. The project was concluded in December 2021. However, Stephenson indicated that over the course of the project, they became a family, and since then they have continued to offer support where needed. keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com Young people engage in business development training. CONTRIBUTED JAMAICA AT 60: M NTEGO BAY
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