(Jamaica Gleaner) An initiative between government and private-sector agencies supporting crime prevention and community safety using young inner-city men to promote positive messages was formally launched Tuesday at the Fletcher’s Land Commu-nity Centre in Kingston.
The project, titled ‘Real Man Things: Pon Di Corner’, will use the radio programme series after which it is named, along with workshops and interactive sessions on inner-city street corners, to communicate with young men contemplating a life of crime.
The weekly one-hour ‘Real Man Things’ radio series airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on the Gleaner Company-owned Power 106 FM.
The Ministry of National Security’s Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) spearheads the initiative, which is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, in partnership with Churches Co-operative Credit Union (CCCU) and Commu-nications and Business Solutions.
National crime statistics show that approximately 75 per cent of all crimes in Jamaica are committed by persons under age 30, with one in four arrests capturing those in the under-18 age cohort.
CSJP Programme Manager Simeon Robinson said the messages of change will be conveyed by a group of reformed inner-city men who were previously gang members and led a life of crime, as well as having spent time in prison.
“These men will be trained and deployed as role models to the corners, schools, clubs and sports teams to communicate the message of change to other young men contemplating a life of crime, vulnerable to recruitment or living a life of crime,” said Robinson.
The programme manager added that, occasionally, the men would participate in live broadcasts from street corners, discussing issues of concern to young men at risk.
The project seeks to encourage the private and public sector to promote and provide jobs, training, internship opportunities to qualified youth from the inner-city communities, as well as highlight leaders.
The ‘Real Man Things: Pon Di Corner’ initiative will also visit different inner-city communities and schedule regular rap sessions with residents.
Basil Naar, chief executive officer of CCCU, one of the agencies partnering with the CSJP, said it was well known that some sectors within society had turned their backs on persons living in inner-city communities.
Naar also pointed out that the situation was exacerbated by the refusal of many employers to hire residents from these communities on seeing their addresses on job applications.
“Thirty-eight per cent of young adults living in the inner city today are unemployed. Further to that, 70 per cent of the young adults in the inner city are deemed unemployable,” said Naar.
The Churches boss expressed hope that the thrust would provide opportunities for prospective business owners in CSJP communities to learn fiscal responsibility and attain financial independence, noting that such alliances were needed to comprehensively tackle Jamaica’s crime problem.
