Project STAR aiming to brighten Spanish Town
Published:Friday | June 16, 2023 | 12:45 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
THE PRIVATE Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is working to identify volatile and vulnerable communities in Spanish Town, St Catherine to benefit from its Project STAR initiative.
This disclosure was made by Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee, vice president of the PSOJ and data specialist for Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal), in his presentation on data and geo spatial mapping.
Currently, the programme has targetted east, downtown Kingston communities of Rose Town and Parade Gardens, western May Pen in the Clarendon communities of Treadlight and Denbigh, and over in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday at the Office of the Commissioner of Police under the theme, ‘Reversing Poor Social Outcomes in STAR communities: What the data reveals’, Lyew-Ayee said that the high rate of crime and violence in these regions was a factor taken into account when selecting them.
“The major crime is [what is] reported to the police and violence is what goes to the hospital. The hospitals capture a lot of data that is going to get to the police and then we begin to put all this together at the community scale,” he explained.
In relation to east downtown Kingston and Savanna-la-Mar, Lyew-Ayee stated that there was a reduction in crime and violence, which was a direct reflection of the achievements of the zone of special operations (ZOSO) put in place within the affected communities.
“In the case of east downtown Kingston, crime is down 55 per cent, in the case of Savanna-la-Mar crime is down 42 per cent. The important thing here is to make sure that this achievement and these gains are sustained and do not result to previous records,” he said in relation to ZOSO operations and their effectiveness.
Over the course of Project STAR’s intervention, which will last five years, the aim is to reduce crime and violence by 40 per cent, said Lyew-Ayee.
The project has been in operation for seven months now and is a social and economic transformation initiative established by the PSOJ in partnership with the Jamaica Constabulary Force. It aims to bring about societal transformation through targeted interventions in under-resourced areas of Jamaica.
It is aimed at impacting 10 communities across Jamaica and will utilise mixed financing options to raise a total of $2 billion over the course of the programme.
Saffrey Brown, project director for Project STAR, who spoke about the success of the programme thus far, referred to a youngster named Akeem from the Rose Gardens community in east Kingston who had been able to gain employment to support himself and family through engaging in the project.
She explained that the young man, having expressed an interest in working as a driver at port facilities, had been given the opportunity to work as a trainee at Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited. While there, he underwent an examination which he has recently completed, receiving marks of 93 per cent on his practical exam and 98 per cent on his theory exam.
“But prior to this, Akeem was just wandering the community, not causing any trouble, but look at the contribution which he is now making. If we can find all those people that are not necessarily causing trouble ... but they are falling through the cracks, then we may not have such an issue with our human capital needs in Jamaica,” she said.
Brown added that when people succeed in their communities, it is crucial to encourage them to remain there in order to uplift others and transform the area into one where everyone wants to live, raise their kids, and advance.
But before this could be accomplished, she argued that facilities and activities needed to be put in place to deter residents from wanting to desert the community.
A community intervention team meets bi-weekly to agree on strategies to implement. The various social development commission and community development committees are also engaged in the discussions through the community transformation board of the project. Residents, school principals and heads of local churches are also involved.
East Kingston impact
Giving details about the kinds of impact made in east Kingston, Brown stated that 58 residents participated in two sets of training sessions as part of the goal of promoting economic self-sufficiency in these communities through training and employment. Forty-eight of them completed job-readiness training and 90 per cent of them placed first in their respective cohorts. A 96-per-cent completion rate was achieved.
By focusing on community-wide inclusion, the project saw 330 residents provided with improved financial inclusion, and 218 residents received important documents, such as birth certificates, food handler’s permits where required, and taxpayer registration numbers (TRNs).
Brown noted that using sports as an intervention method enabled community cohesion. Through this, 448 residents were engaged through the use of sports and 61 sporting sessions held, which opened opportunities for youth engagement and development.
By receiving parenting education and participating in school-based initiatives like school-feeding programmes, 283 families received the support needed to improve their circumstances. The feeding programme led to a rise in the general attendance rates of the kids, Brown said.
Additionally, 205 elders were provided with social welfare services and 142 residents were able to access counselling and therapy support.
In the past seven months, the initiative has seen an improved display of community preparedness to participate and assist in advancing the positive outcomes of community-led activities, with 18 of these activities being hosted.
She added that of the over 8,000 people living in the area, 15 per cent of them have been engaged through the project.
“We cannot expect families to be able to thrive in an ecosystem when we’re not providing any of the resources that they need,” Brown said, “Financial inclusion is a step to making sure that all of the wider community is progressing at the same time that you are also impacting individuals.”