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The Government has allocated $321 million for construction and renovation of three juvenile correctional institutions, in line with a commitment given by Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding, to improve the facilities in which children in state custody are housed. The figure is outlined in the 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled by the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon....

Over the next year, a disaster emergency plan is to be developed for each of the 41 child care institutions that have been selected under a project being implemented by the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). As contained in the 2010/2011 Estimates of Expenditure, $7.2 million has been set aside to carry out the activities of this...

A major international conference on Jamaica's National Hero, Sam Sharpe, will be held in April at the prestigious University of Oxford, England. The conference titled: 'Sam Sharpe and the Quest for Liberation: Context, Theology and Legacy for Today' is a collaboration involving the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent's Park College, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the...

The Government is maintaining its commitment to the island's street children, with $12 million budgeted for that purpose in the 2010-2011 Estimates of Expenditure. The money is to be channeled into the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture's Possibility Programme, which is aimed at providing the necessary resources and support for street children to improve their life chances. Specific targets...

The second phase of the Jamaica Heritage Trail Project, was launched on Saturday, March 27, at the Riu Hotel in Ocho Rios, St. Ann. The launch, which saw the unveiling of newly installed signboards for Mammee Bay and Rio Bueno in St. Ann and Trelawny, respectively, is a joint effort of the Spanish Jamaica Foundation (SPJF), the Jamaica National Heritage...

Hundreds of young people as well as adults are expected to attend the first staging of 'Poetry in the Park', to be held on Saturday, April 3, at the Turtle River Park in Ocho Rios, St. Ann. The event, which is being promoted by Claudette G and the Talent Store Company, will seek to give young people in and around...

As the Government intensifies efforts to protect the rights of the nation's children, it will be introducing this year, a programme aimed at enhancing child justice. Making the announcement during his Throne Speech at the State Opening of Parliament today (March 25), the Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, said that this programme will strengthen the responsibilities...

The Seventh staging of the St. Ann Kite Festival will be held on Easter Monday (April 5) at Richmond Estate, Priory, with the organizers promising that the event will be bigger and better this year. "This year it has been transformed into an International Festival which has been branded, 'The St. Ann International Kite Festival'," principal organizer, Darien Henry, told...

The Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) is continuing to empower youths from inner-city communities through the use of technology to help them improve their skills and interpersonal relationships. This time it is through the use of the Autoskills computer software, the acquisition of which was funded through partnership with the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation. The JNBS Foundation purchased the...

The Spanish Foundation of Jamaica (SPFJ) will, on Saturday, March 27, launch the second phase of the Jamaica Heritage Trail Project. In 2008, the SPFJ launched the first phase of the project, in collaboration with the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), which has seen the erection and unveiling of some 11 signboards across the...

Jamaica's first National Youth Survey, which will provide insight into the needs of the country's young people, and their perspective on key issues, is to get underway soon. The $43 million survey, which will last for nine months, is being undertaken as part of the Inter-American Development Bank/Government of Jamaica Youth Development Programme and, according to Minister of Youth, Sports...

Jamaican-born publisher of the South Florida monthly newspaper, Caribbean Today, Mr. Peter Webley, is to be inducted into the Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame, in the field of Journalism, in April. Described as one of the pioneers in Caribbean media in South Florida, Mr. Webley founded Caribbean Today in 1989. Mr. Webley told JIS News that he launched...