Community centres to open as late as midnight

Community centres will soon stay open late into the night under newly formed Centre Management Committees.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Charles Griffith revealed in Parliament on Tuesday that six residents from each surrounding neighbourhood are being recruited to run the centres until 11 p.m. or midnight, extending operations well beyond the current closing time.

“In recent times, we would have started something at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment called the Centre Management Committees,” Griffith told the House of Assembly during debate on a land sale resolution. “These will provide an opportunity for those community centres to open past 4:30 p.m. when regular staff is exiting to go home.”

The initiative, already piloted at 12 locations, will eventually cover all community centres, allowing after-hours programming for cultural events, skills training and youth activities.

Griffith tied the expansion to broader empowerment efforts. These include a community empowerment programme that partners with agencies like the National Insurance and Social Security Service, the Revenue Authority and Sagicor to help youth access TAMIS numbers, bank accounts and other services.

Another is Project Dawn, targeting young people “on the blocks” and offering vocational training through the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology, Barbados Community College, Vocational Training Board and other institutions, with plans to use community centres as satellite classrooms.

“It is coming to a stage where we’re expanding,” the minister said, “and these same community centres will provide satellite locations for us to further expand the training of our young people across this country.” (SB)