New Beginnings Youth Development Center Weeding Out “Undesirables” Among Staff

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia

The former Princess Royal Youth Hostel was an institution that was neglected for years, with its bathroom in need of urgent plumbing repairs, and its residents making attempts every few months to break out from the facility. On one occasion, in the wake of a fire that claimed the lives of three of the girls, another attempted to take her life. The staff was found to be culpable for not following protocol in several instances. But with the new charter and a new name, the New Beginnings Youth Development Center as it is now known, promises to be a ray of hope for Belize’s most socially-challenged youths. While significant investments have been made and changes have begun to upgrade the product, one area where the government is now focusing is the caliber of people it hires to work at the facility. Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, under whose close watch the center operates, told News Five at the renaming ceremony for the center that there is zero tolerance for any staff member whose integrity is brought into question and against whom there is evidence beyond a doubt.

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development

“I can tell you we’ve made a start because some allegations were there indeed, and we have zero tolerance, Marion. I want to signal, once I am at the head of this Ministry, we will signal zero tolerance, and we have taken very stringent action in three cases already. I will not call names, but there is going to be zero tolerance, and I think that is why you see such a new aura, a new feeling because we have people here that we can trust.”