Government of Jamaica
Kingston, 15 November 2024 (JIS) - Adolescent mothers attending the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation’s Morant Bay facility now have a better chance at a brighter future, following the donation of over $2.6 million to assist the facility with its work.
The sum, which is equivalent to Can$25,000, was handed over on November 15 by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare, which represents around 65,000 healthcare workers in Ontario, Canada.
The organisation, recognising the work of the Morant Bay Centre and inspired to assist, raised the funds by hosting a Gala in Canada.
Receiving the donation, the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, expressed gratitude to the Union for supporting the 46-year-old Women's Centre.
“I want you to know that you are supporting an organisation with a track record of having a positive impact on people and communities. Your support helps us to remove the major obstacles that will try to stop adolescent mothers from leading successful lives,” the Minister said.
“What you are doing, in removing some of those obstacles, is helping them continue their education, thereby increasing their job prospects and equipping them with the tools to look after their children and to become good parents. Your generosity helps to make a difference for both mother and child for a lifetime, and we are eternally grateful,” Minister Grange added.
For her part, SEIU Executive Board Member and Women’s Representative, Gloria Turney, who is a daughter of St. Thomas, said it was not a hard decision to raise the funds for the Centre.
“We worked hard. It took months, but we did it and we raised some funds; and all the funds are going to go towards the girls,” Ms. Turney said.
“Everybody deserves a second chance at life. The way out of poverty is through education. This is tremendous, that there is a Centre that caters to the young ladies who want to continue their education,” she added.
Meanwhile, SEIU Healthcare President, Tyler Downey, congratulated the Women's Centre on the work it has been doing, which has impacted some 55,000 adolescent mothers to date.
“We’re super excited about what the money is going to be used for and how far it’s going to be able to support the young women here,” the President said.
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Kingston, 19 May 2024 (JIS) - A Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation facility is to be built in St. Thomas.
The Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, who made the announcement, says the centre will be designed and constructed by the Factories Corporation of Jamaica, which will also adopt the facility that is expected to have a nursery and dormitory, among other features.
The FCJ is also spearheading development of the Morant Bay Urban Centre, work on which is advanced.
“The development that is happening in the parish is booming, and they are going well,” Mr. Holness said.
He was addressing the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation fundraising dinner at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston on Saturday.
Mr. Holness also announced that he and Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, will be facilitating a donation of $10 million towards the construction of a Women’s Centre dormitory in Kingston.
“What is needed now to expand the [Women’s Centre] services and to make [these] more impactful would be more dormitories in some areas, and we hope that we can partner with the private sector [on that] to complete the facility,” the Prime Minister added.
The Women's Centre provides continuing education for girls dropping out of school due to pregnancy, and facilitates their reinstatement into the formal school system after giving birth.
Through its commitment to improved educational attainment and outcomes and adolescent reproductive health, the Women’s Centre strives to promote a holistic approach to service delivery for and the provision of information to young girls.
Prime Minister Holness, who praised patrons supporting Saturday’s fundraising dinner, said the Women’s Centre is an “extremely important” entity, adding that their support is not just a matter of charity, “it is a matter of social responsibility being executed in a meaningful way.”
He maintained that supporting the Women’s Centre’s work represents an investment in ensuring that Jamaica’s adolescents, particularly teenaged mothers, get to fulfil their life opportunities.
In this regard, Mr. Holness said the entity can be described as the Government’s “most meaningful and successful social intervention programme.”
More than 45,000 teen mothers have been assisted by the Women’s Centre since its establishment in 1978 to facilitate their continuing education; aid in delaying repeat pregnancies among adolescent mothers through sexual and reproductive health education, and enable their reintegration into the formal school system or placement in another institution of learning.
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Kingston, 1 October 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has said that construction work at Women’s Centre outreach centres in the parishes of St Elizabeth and Manchester is now complete.
Minister Grange who toured the facilities on Thursday (yesterday) said she was satisfied with the work.
The Minister was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Denzil Thorpe; and the Chair of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Board, Debbie Salmon.
The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation is operated by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.
The Ministry had been leading the construction of a new facility in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth which will operate as a training and day care centre to enable adolescent mothers to continue their education until they are able to rejoin the formal school system.
The centre in Santa Cruz, which was constructed at a cost of J$36 million, joins the centre in Junction as the Women’s Centre facilities in the parish of St Elizabeth.
“This [Santa Cruz] facility is more central and that is why it was so important for us to build this out and to make it available to the parish. The facility in Junction, we need to do some repairs there, but what we will do once we’ve done all the repairs is to have that facility operate just as a nursery.”
Minister Grange said the new Santa Cruz centre will enable the Women’s Centre to improve its service to adolescent mothers in the parish.
“Young girls who found themselves pregnant — some have been abused, some were just experimenting — and so they’re not able to be in traditional school.
The Women’s Centre provides the support that they will need to carry them through their pregnancy. They get counselling, classes are conducted and they’re taken through that period where they have their babies.”
Minister Grange was joined on the tour in Santa Cruz by the Member of Parliament for Northeast St Elizabeth, Delroy Slowley, who pledged his support to the operation of the centre.
“I will have to be making sure that whatever I can bring to the table to assist [because] some of the amenities are not there. We need a washing machine, we need desks and chairs for the students and for the teachers and we will have to see how, from our CDF, we can bring some assistance,” said Mr Slowley.
In Manchester, Minister Grange opened the new nursery at the Mandeville Centre.
The Minister said: “Adolescent mothers who attend the centre would take their babies here and while they are attending classes, the babies would be attended to in the nursery, which is a standalone facility so that when they’re in class they won’t hear the babies crying and so they’ll be able to concentrate on their lessons.”
Minister Grange was joined on the tour by the Member of Parliament for Central Manchester, Rhoda Moy Crawford; as well as Dasmine Kennedy, who donated a grant — awarded by the Rockefeller Foundation — towards the construction.
Minister Grange praised the partnership for the construction of the nursery and said she looked forward to working with other stakeholders to get the facility up and running.
Miss Crawford pledged her support going forward. “I’m very happy to be on the tour today because what I’ve been able to see is, first hand, the needs. There’s a need for tablets for the girls, there’s need for building material, among other things; and I’m going to see what sort of assistance I can give through my office while at the same time appeal to the members of the business community to give us whatever support they can.”
The MP also praised Minister Grange for her work to improve the Programme for Adolescent Mothers in Manchester.
“I’m very heartened by the development here today. Access to education and training is one of my priority issues, so I want to express a big thank you to the Honourable Minister Grange for her seriousness and this investment,” said Miss Crawford.
The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation operates 18 facilities for adolescent mothers across the island.
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Kingston, 26 November 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced the naming of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation’s Annual Lecture in honour of Mrs. Pamela McNeil, the first Executive Director of the Women’s Centre.
The third staging of the Women’s Centre Annual Lecture on Adolescent Pregnancy is titled, “Adolescent Pregnancy: Reducing the Rate within the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic” and will be held on Friday, November 27, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
Minister Grange said:
“For 20 years Mrs. McNeil served with a sense of passion and perseverance. She worked tirelessly to help young women to overcome the setbacks caused by teenage pregnancy. She was a visionary who saw it as her purpose to take an active part in assisting teenage mothers to carry on with their education and realise their dreams. The naming of the Annual Lecture will honour her memory and contribution.”
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Alando Terrelonge, will make an address while the lecture will be delivered by Dr. Denise Chevannes, HIV & AIDS Officer, United Nations Population Fund Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean.
The lecture invites discussion on the wide and varied issues surrounding adolescent pregnancy.
Other participants include the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the National Family Planning Board and the Bureau of Gender Affairs.
Through the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport administers the Programme for Adolescent Mothers which is delivered from ten main centres and seven outreach stations across the island. More than 49,000 adolescent mothers have benefitted from the programme which combines academic, counselling, and skill training.
The public is invited to join online via the Zoom platform, details follow:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87256102205?pwd=M0UxZXE0YlZQcHFqUmovV0s4c29KUT09
Meeting ID: 872 5610 2205
Passcode: 924569
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Morant Bay, St Thomas 22 December 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced that a new nursery, to be constructed at the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation location in Morant Bay, will be named in honour of Miss World, Toni-Ann Singh.
Minister Grange made the announcement during a tour of St Thomas by the new Miss World on Sunday (today).
Minister Grange said:
“It is my pleasure to announce this afternoon that this facility will have a new nursery. We will build out a new nursery and it will be the Toni-Ann Singh nursery. We will make a more detailed announcement, but I just want to say to you that it will be done. And it will be done soonest!”
The tour of her home parish is one of the activities to celebrate Toni-Ann being crowned Miss World 2019.
Toni-Ann Singh had chosen the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation location in St Thomas for her ‘Beauty With A Purpose’ project upon entering the Miss World competition and has been working with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport to improve the facilities. She is aiming to raise J$12million to develop the facilities and help adolescent mothers to complete their education.
The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation helps adolescent mothers to continue their education while providing them with the tools to become good parents.
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