‘Building Blocks’ for six more communities, says Sutherland

Government’s Building Blocks Programme has earmarked more communities across the island where young people will be given an opportunity to own their own businesses, Minister of Youth Dwight Sutherland has revealed.

The programme that aims to take back the blocks and transform them into exciting, viable community-driven small business centres has been gaining tremendous traction since kicking off in 2018, he told the House of Assembly on Tuesday.

Six communities have been identified for the programme, Sutherland said during debate in Parliament on a resolution to acquire land in Workmans, St George for recreational purposes.

He said: “The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment started a Building Blocks Programme where we went into communities. We started this programme back in 2018 and to date we have built some 15 kiosks across Barbados at five locations.

“Only this morning I was speaking to the member for St Michael North West [Neil Rowe] to tell him that his plans that he has agreed upon are on their way to Town and Country Planning for the construction of five kiosks at Free Hill, St Michael, where we can truly speak about empowering the young people of the block in terms of entrepreneurship, in terms of small businesses.”

Sutherland said more plans were already before Town and Country Planning seeking permission.

“This year we will start six more blocks and that will give close to 20 entrepreneurs the opportunity to engage in commercial activity,” he told the House.

“We are engaged in empowering our guys on the block with the view to solve some of the social challenges that we have. That alone might not solve all of them but I know we have some of the programmes and the policies that can solve some of the problems.

“They won’t be solved overnight, it is a work in progress. And when people see that you as a Government care about them, that we can take the average man on the block, some of whom are disengaged, some of whom left school without any certification, and we can give them the opportunity to become businessmen and businesswomen in this country, that speaks a lot. We are leaving no one behind.” (RB)