raphael.lall@guardian.co.tt
A 2013 report on problems in east Port-of-Spain spearheaded by Dr Selwyn Ryan had identified lack of training and employment opportunities as one of the serious issues to be resolved if young people in those areas were to be turned from a life of crime.
The report suggested that troubled youths in hot spots areas could be reformed through jobs and skills training. However, its recommendations, including the establishment of a labour market information system, and mechanisms for assessing and certifying skills acquired through non-traditional modes expanded to facilitate the employment of technical and vocational graduates, have not been fully implemented.
The report also recommended that quality work-site learning be linked to school-based activities.
Eight years after the University of the West Indies (UWI) professor released a Government-commissioned study, another committee under a different government is again putting forward proposals for training and employment opportunities.
Some of the other recommendations of the 2013 report included mandating the police to go after the “big ones” who flood the area with guns and drugs, making changes to the Teaching Commission, staffing the Youth Training Centre (YTC) with specialists in youth development and establishment of drug treatment courts.
The Community Recovery Committee (CRC) was established last July by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley following fiery protests in east Port-of-Spain which renewed debate about the area’s perpetual underdevelopment. The Committee is tasked with developing and implementing “sustainable working solutions” that address issues affecting at-risk communities.
The CRC, chaired by Anthony Watkins, has been focusing on communities that have been stereotyped and marginalised from Charlotte Street in the west to communities north of the Lady Young Road, Morvant, such as Never Dirty and Mon Repos. They are also dealing with communities east of the Lady Young Road such as Coconut Drive and Second Caledonia, as well as Sea Lots, Beetham Estate and all of east Port-of- Spain.
Although he declined to state the size of the CRC’s budget, which is administered through the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service (MYDNS), he said at some time (post-COVID-19) they might have to cover the cost of events staged within communities. Additionally, there may be expenses associated with media promotion of events and initiatives and some research conducted in the communities.
Skills and business development
At the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, members of the CRC Committee met with residents of these areas and was able to identify their most pressing needs. These include improved infrastructure, maintenance of apartment buildings and upgrade of open spaces. For some people, it was unemployment, for others dealing with the trauma of the social problems in their communities.
The CRC identified as key areas of focus human development such as skills training and grooming residents to become more employable and business and economic development. to help residents start and maintain sustainable businesses.
Watkins stressed that the Committee was not directly delivering services but would liaise with various stakeholders who perform these functions. He said there many government agencies, corporate bodies, and NGOs well equipped to asset the needs of the residents.
He referred to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with whom they met in January, noting that the agency’s programming is aligned to much of what the CRC is tasked to address.
According to Watkins, fostering community pride and ownership was also important, as for an area to achieve its full potential, residents must feel pride in where they live. This involves keeping spaces and streets clean, painting positive messages on walls and appreciating a community’s history and successes over time.
Another aspect of community recovery involves social support and cohesion by ensuring family life is stable. Even if people do not come from homes with two parents, there should be support organizations to inculcate a sense of belonging such as sports, drama and youth clubs among other positive social organisations to keep young people away from the criminal gangs which seem to have replaced many of these groups in recent times.
Negative stereotypes
On the stigmatisation that affects communities in east Port-of-Spain, Watkins said: “What we want to be able to monitor is what are some of the current perceptions and attitudes and as some of this work is done, we want to see if these attitudes are changing. We want these communities to become more robust and empowered and successful.”
He said there were systemic obstacles that prevented residents from improving themselves and moving out of poverty and gave the examples of banks refusing to lend money to residents for property improvements, although they would lend money for houses in other areas.
Apart from working in the communities, the CRC will be building relations with institutions in the country so they can be educated on how to deal with disadvantaged communities.
Discussions will be held with the business chambers, the Human Resource Management Association of T&T and recruitment agencies on how they deal with job seekers from east Port-of-Spain.
“We want to build bridges and reduce stigmas,” he said.
They also plan to build a relationship with the media as stories done on east Port-of-Spain tend to be negative.
“If you look at the quantum of reporting on crime, on people who have succeeded and got scholarships and good jobs, you can say we are not seeing those stories in the media,” Watkins said.
Apart from the socio-economic issues, he also said that there are issues like ethnicity and stereotypes that surround one group of people and these perceptions must change.
In January, members of the CRC met virtually with teams from the IDB and explored issues of public management and housing and urban development in marginalised communities. They are now partnering to develop projects in housing, regularisation of properties and family support.
They are also working with are the Social Work Association on trauma in these communities and how families can be assisted and with the Ministry of Education on a school improvement project in the Morvant/Laventille area.
ROYTEC has also been doing a lot of work in the communities on scholarships, bursaries, training and is now working with the CRC on how the communities will be targeted, as well as getting past ROYTEC students to offer their services in education and training.
They met with officials of Hearts and Minds, a group within the T&T Police Service (TTPS) that has been assisting residents with agriculture projects. The National Entrepreneurial Development Company (NEDCO) and the Co-operatives Division of the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service are working with the CRC on the establishment of sustainable businesses and possibly expanding into other areas of food production and agro-processing.
The 2013 Report
The 436-page report, No Time to Quit: Engaging Youth At Risk, was laid in the House of Representatives in March 2013 by then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Watkins said significant work was done in that study and there were “very appropriate recommendations” that can be used
Commenting on the matter, Oropouche East MP, Dr Roodal Moonlilal, accused the current government of duplicating that effort.
“It was an enormous amount of work done on crime hotspots and the youth that were at risk. The Cabinet had appointed Dr Ryan to do the study. We paid him. This Government is simply doing the process again because the report is there and there are many recommendations that are available to the government to implement. There are reports that speak about the urban crisis and the crisis of youth,” he said.
“The then Education Minister was working on some of the recommendations to strengthen the counselling services, to reach out to parents, to promote homework centres and to promote information technology in underprivileged societies. We were working with church groups. The expansion of the police youth clubs occurred under our administration. It was just a question of carrying on. Unfortunately, they stopped all of that. Today the Police Youth clubs cannot get the funding.”
Recommendations in the 2013 study included:
• National Security Ministry go after the “big ones” who import guns and illicit drugs into Laventille.
• The Teaching Service Commission be restructured and renamed
• The ESC should be responsible for recruiting, selecting, and reviewing personnel at higher levels of the education service–principals and vice-principals—and be relieved of interviewing, which could be done by the Education Ministry.
• All teachers should be certified and licensed by a regulatory body, the National Council for Professional Standards in Teaching (NCPST).
• YTC “should not be staffed by prison officers but individuals specially trained in youth development and sensitive to the objectives of the YTC.”
• Establishment of drug treatment courts in the shortest possible time.