Inner-City Communities to Benefit From Family Support Services Programme

A Family Support Services Programme, aimed at improving access to Government’s social services to build stronger families in 12 inner city communities, was recently launched in Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
The programme, which is being undertaken by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), under its Inner-city Basic Services Support Programme (ICBSP); the Inland Revenue Department and the Registrar General’s Department (RGD), will provide over 1,200 persons with birth certificates, tax registration numbers and other civil registration documents at subsidized costs.
Additionally, the residents will benefit from improved access to basic services, such as water, road and social waste management. The programme will be implemented over the next four years in communities in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon and St. James.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, and Member of Parliament for Central St. Catherine, one of the targeted communities in the parish, said that the issue of birth certificates has been a burning one for inner-city residents for a long time.
“There are many occasions when children are out of school, because they do not have a birth certificate. This will help single mothers, because all they will have to do is pay $100, because the JSIF funding will cover the rest of the cost to get their birth certificates,” she pointed out.
Managing Director of JSIF, Scarlette Gillings, said the organisation was happy to participate in the project, which “will give many persons the opportunity to finally access government programmes and support services.”
She also noted that over 1,000 basic community infrastructure projects have been approved by her organisation, of which 718 had been completed at a cost of nearly $6 billion.
Chief Executive Officer of the RGD, Dr. Patricia Holness, said that application forms collected from residents would be processed within seven days. Other agencies participating in the project include the Victim Support Unit, the National Health Fund and the Programme for Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).