KSAMC Expands Activities Under the Youth Summer Employment Programme

The Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has expanded its activities under this year’s staging of the Youth Summer Employment Programme (YSEP) to include two new features.

These will support the ban on single-use plastics and bolster safeguards for the society’s most vulnerable citizens.

Some 600 youth from across the Corporate Area who are participating in the six-week activity, now under way, will be collating data relating to garbage disposal and emergency assistance.

These engagements are in addition to the auditing of billboards, barbers and hairdressers, trade licences, and advertising.

The KSAMC’s Public Relations Officer, Jodiann James, told JIS News that the Corporation is keen on playing its part in support of the Government-imposed ban on plastics, which came into effect on January 1.

“One of our strategic objectives is keeping our city clean, safe and thriving, and we have to enforce that in all that we do. In doing this, we want the youth to be ambassadors to spread this message of exercising responsible care for the environment,” she stated

To this end, Ms. James said the YSEP participants will gather data on when, how and whether garbage is collected in communities throughout the city, adding that this information will be used to assist the National Solid Waste Management Authority’s work across the municipality.

Ms. James said the participants will also collate information that will serve to enhance the KSAMC’s care for the most vulnerable in society, particularly homeless persons living on the streets, through its emergency assistance programmes.

These include poor relief benefits, pension, homeless and street-feeding programmes, and the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH).

“This will help us remove more people from the streets in an efficient, effective as well as strategic manner. There are relatives of street persons who can furnish us with information such as their illnesses and dietary needs, and the young persons will help us gather that,” Ms. James explained.

The YSEP, which ends on August 30, is an initiative of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

It is designed to train and empower participants, by widening the skill set and knowledge of more than 3,000 youth across the island, annually.