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Executive Director of the Social Development Commission (SDC), Dr. Dwayne Vernon, says the agency is seeking to position itself to further assist in bolstering self-help activities in communities islandwide. Speaking at the second SDC Parish/Town Hall meeting, in May Pen, Clarendon, last week,  Dr. Vernon pointed out that the Commission’s  “core outputs” are focused on fostering strong community governance mechanisms,...

Local Government and Community Development Minister, Hon. Noel Arscott, says the Government is in the process of rolling out the country’s Local Economic Development (LED) programme, which will facilitate the creation of new enterprises, jobs, and income, for beneficiary stakeholders. He made the announcement on Wednesday (Oct. 31), at the Social Development Commission’s (SDC) second Parish/Town Hall Meeting held in...

The Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) will be staging its 8th Annual Public Lecture and Exposition on Thursday (November 1) at Emancipation Park, starting at 2:00 p.m. The event is being held in collaboration with the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS) under the topic: ‘Raising a Jamaican Child with Disabilities: 50 Years of Progress?' It will begin with an...

The Jamaica Red Cross has so far provided assistance to over 400 families across the island  who were affected by the passage of Hurricane Sandy, on October 24. "We have distributed already, enough food for 400 families and we do the packages, assuming it will be mother, father and three children. So, hopefully what we give them will last for...

The Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD) is looking to reach more Jamaicans with disabilities so that the Government can adequately cater to their educational, economic, and social development. Through funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Council will be seeking to locate and register more persons across the island. The aim is to create a reliable database...

  The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is currently conducting assessments to determine the level of assistance to be provided to persons, who have been seriously dislocated by Hurricane Sandy, which affected the island on October 24. Acting Director of Social Security in the Ministry, Denzil Thorpe, told JIS News that two categories of assessments are being undertaken. The...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Horace Dalley, says Jamaica needs to have regular, timely and reliable data on the labour force. He further says that a modern economy “must be able to tell, on a regular basis, how many persons are exiting and entering the labour force”. Minister Dalley was speaking at...

The National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) will be staging its Grand Retirement Exposition on Sunday (Oct. 21) on the Jamaica College grounds, St. Andrew. The event, which gets underway at 10:00 a.m., seeks to raise awareness among Jamaicans about the need to prepare for retirement from an early age.  “With this exposition, we want to reach out to both...

Some six hundred students and parents, along with a number of guidance counsellors in St. James, are benefitting from a 12 month intervention and behavioral programme sponsored by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) at a cost of over $24 million. Executive Director of the Family and Parenting Centre in St. James, Dr. Beverly Scott, whose organisation spearheaded the programme,...

The Education Ministry is moving to clarify its decision to replace the teachers involved with the Career Advancement Programme (CAP) with teachers selected under the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP). Speaking with the JIS News during a recent interview, Education Minister, Rev. the Hon. Ronald Thwaites, said the decision was taken in order to relieve the CAP teachers from the...

The Abilities Foundation of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be observing Abilities Day, with a civil registration exhibition on Friday, October 5, at its 191 Constant Spring Road Office, Kingston, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Themed, 'Removing Barriers, through Empowerment and Technology', the exposition will provide a platform for persons who want to access civil registration documents, to...

The Government has granted a bauxite levy concession to Russian-based aluminum company UC Rusal, which will ensure, among other things, that the 600 local jobs are maintained at the Ewarton Works refinery in St. Catherine. This was revealed by Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell on Tuesday (October 2) in a statement to Parliament. He informed...