City Youth Given Another Chance to Get An Education
We often here the best way to stem violence is through education. Well over the last two weeks, two hundred and twenty-four highly motivated youth have been engaged in literacy, financial literacy, life skills, and mathematics classes for an opportunity to become more productive citizens. It’s a first step leading into an apprenticeship programme. The Leadership Education Liaison Officer for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Youth Services is Doctor Lorna McKay.
Dr. Lorna McKay, Leadership Education Liaison Officer
“You know that education is key and many of these at-risk youth/gang members had dropped out of school at one point in time – whether it was their fault, whether it was from the system, whether it was because of whatever things that had affected them at the time. And we know that for you to reintegrate people into society, although we might look at it and say that they give a lot of trouble and stuff, these are good people; they can be reintegrated. But there are programs that we have put in place that help them and this is one such program where we train them in financial literacy, basic math, literacy and life skills – things that will help them as we reintegrate them into society to work in the apprenticeship program and stuff like that to make them be able to help themselves to better cope with what they go into. We have behaviour modification under Mister William Dawson, we have community policing officers who work closely with them and we have certain stipulation because they are in another program already where they are doing cleanup where they get a stipend for and this is an extension of that programme. So we spoke with them, we orientated them, I did and they are in it. They want to do it.”