Recovery efforts in the flood-damaged community of Weise Road in Bull Bay, St. Andrew are being accelerated with the assistance of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF). The recent heavy rains caused the nearby Chalky River to break its banks, depositing silt and stones onto the roads and into homes. Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Pearnel...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica Community Renewal Programme (PIOJ-CRP) and partners will virtually stage the fifth annual Symposium on Best Practices for Community and Social Development, on Wednesday, November 25, 2020. The event, which will be streamed live from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., will be held under the theme ‘Coordination: Working together to build a better Jamaica’. Speaking with...

The St. James Municipal Corporation has declared St. James Street in downtown Montego Bay a no-vending zone with immediate effect. Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Leeroy Williams, made the announcement at the Corporation’s monthly meeting held on Thursday (November 12) at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square. The Mayor, who is also Chairman of the Municipal Corporation, said...

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is imploring residents in communities that have been quarantined due to coronavirus (COVID-19) to cooperate with health teams in getting tested for the virus. Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who made the appeal at the Ministry’s COVID-19 Conversations digital press conference, on November 5, noted that this is the key means of...

Five hundred families across St. James have benefited from a donation of care packages from the Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister Cities Committee. The packages, valued at US$10,000, were handed over to residents on Thursday (October 8) at the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) office, located on Church Street in Montego Bay. The parcels contained food items, including flour, sugar, cornmeal, bread and...

Eligible civil society organisations (CSOs) and grassroots businesses can now apply for grant funding from the Social Development Commission (SDC), during its Call for Proposals period of September 28 to October 30. Grants available to CSOs include the Local Economic Development Grant, Government of Jamaica Community Development Committee Grant, and the Government of Jamaica Parish Development Committee Grant. This year,...

Jamaicans are being encouraged to shower elders with love and appreciation on Sunday (September 27), observed as National Grandparents’ Day, as the country kick-starts this year's activities for Senior Citizens’ Week. The week, which is being observed under the theme ‘Advancing the health and well-being of older people amid COVID-19', was launched on Friday (September 25) at the office of the...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) recently signed a $38 million agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and FHI 360 Local Development Partner to support the ‘Positive Youth Transformation Project’, which is facilitating ongoing case management initiatives for nearly 100 youth in two St. James communities. The youngsters are already participating in interventions that will improve...

Two hundred at-risk youth from communities across the parish of Clarendon are to benefit through a new crime-prevention initiative – the Clarendon Collaborative Action Project. The initiative is a new approach to crime prevention that utilises several integrated social strategies to address deviant and antisocial behaviours among youth and empower them to become productive members of society. The project will...