Get on track

Minister of Youth Affairs and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde is satisfied Government has done everything possible to steer the country’s youth away from crime.

As a result, deviant youth have been put on notice that if they fail to take advantage of numerous opportunities offered by Government, they will not be spared from the full weight of the law.

Amid an unusually bloody year in which law enforcement officials have so far been forced to contend with 40 homicides, the outspoken Minister is standing by the tremendous investment made by Government to offer community programmes including the Building Blocks Project, the Next Step initiative and the Prince’s Trust programme.

“From the time we got into Government we have said that young people must be engaged at all levels… young people are disengaged and we have done everything as a Government to address this,” said Forde.

Pointing to Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s demand that 1,000 young people be engaged in the Sea Cadet programme, Forde added the Get Into programme was engaging another 1,000 people to supplement the hundreds of at-risk youth engaged in the Building Blocks programme. Get Into is part of the Prince’s Trust programme and targets skills shortages in specific employment sectors.

In addition, he said the Barbados Youth Advance Programme will have four cohorts with each carrying a maximum of 200 students at a cost to Government of approximately $20 million. Such programmes, he said, would go hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Labour’s internship programmes. As a result, Forde believes ample opportunities have been created for youth to move away from deviant behaviour.

“We are setting about it slowly. It is not going to happen overnight. There’s no magical wand in place, but we are going to engage and give young people that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change and make that change that is needed in their lives and we are going to give and spend,” Forde told Barbados TODAY while at the closing ceremony for the residential phase of the Barbados Youth Advance Corps.

He stressed: “We are saying to young people, ‘come and be apart of wholesome activities and be involved in building out your nation and become firm craftsmen of your fate. So if young people still want to be involved in nefarious activities, then we are saying that the Ministry responsible through the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Attorney General will deal with them when they come before the courts.

“At the same time, we are having a zero tolerance zone in relation to crime and violence. The Prime Minister said ‘not bout here’ and I am saying it too, because there are too many opportunities for young people.”

Forde said he hoped youth once labelled ‘at-risk’ would emerge from their current situations as professionals ready to tackle the country’s major problems including environmental protection, healthcare, construction and agriculture as a result of the foundational assistance from Government’s programmes.

“There are approximately 7,000 young people involved in the programmes. Thirty-five hundred people are leaving school every year and out of that number, 2800 are unemployed, disengaged and we are saying the figures suggest that 1,400 of those young people are seeking entrepreneurial activities and are being turned down. This cannot be the order of the day” said Forde.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb