HEART Looking to Boost Skills Training for Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs

HEART/NSTA Trust is inviting more non-governmental organisations, among other entities, to partner with it in providing skills training for persons with disabilities and special needs.

This follows government efforts to provide more equitable access to opportunities for these cohorts, as stipulated under the Disabilities Act.

HEART Regional Director, Charlene Mohan, who supervises the Agency’s Region One, comprising Kingston and St. Andrew, told JIS News that there are currently nine entities islandwide partnering with the Trust.

She indicated that eight of these are located in Region One, while the ninth is in St. James.

The Region One entities are the Abilities Foundation, Alpha Institute, First Missionary Skills Training Centre, Genesis Academy, Jamaica Association on Intellectual Disability (JAID), Lister Mair/Gilby Institute for Adult Education, Trinity Moravian Skills Training Centre, and the YMCA.

The ninth organisation is Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf in Montego Bay, St. James, which offers residential services.

In partnering with the Trust, which will offset a portion of the costs for the trainees, these entities will be able to offer training services encompassing a range of sectors.

These include hospitality, housekeeping, baking, information and communications technology (ICT) skills, and construction.

While noting that there are other NGOs that partner with the Trust islandwide, Ms. Mohan said not all are able to facilitate this type of service.

“We’ve reached out [for] this sort of intervention. That is something we do, ongoing. We operate from data, so our decisions are made based on research [that has] allowed us to recognise that there is a need for more interventions across different parts of the island that we can support,” she stated.

Ms. Mohan pointed out that while HEART awaits feedback to the invitation extended for more partner entities, the Trust will continue to encourage persons with special needs and disabilities to participate in specialised training offered by the institution.

“In the past, we’d have done special interventions with persons with disabilities within our 26 institutions. So they would come in as part of our institution, and there is a training programme specifically for them there,” she said.

Entities interested in partnering with the HEART should be formally registered, and will be vetted through a facility check by the Agency.

For further information, they can contact the Trust at www.heart-nsta.org.