PSOJ Meets with Business Heads in Montego Bay to Discuss Project Star

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), with its newly formed $2-billion community transformation initiative – Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal) – met with local business heads in Montego Bay, St. James, on August 24.

The two-event ‘Stakeholders Engagement’, involved a presentation on Project STAR to PSOJ Western Region and other business community members, followed by a media tour and briefing held in Salt Spring where a story of community renewal is unfolding.

It also comes on the heels of the multi-agency operation aimed at restoring public order and which is currently under way in Montego Bay and named ‘Restoring Paradise, a Public Order Reset’.

“Engaging with western stakeholders is very important to us, because eight of Project STAR’s 20 targeted communities are located in Western Jamaica,” said PSOJ President and Co-chair of Project STAR, businessman Keith Duncan.

He was supported by PSOJ Executive Director, Imega Breese McNab, who noted that “Project STAR is about partnerships, and Salt Spring is an inspiring story of what committed, and goal-focused partnerships can produce”.

“STAR has earmarked 20 communities for interventions over the next five years, with implementation slated to begin next month in east downtown Kingston,” she added. Employment, Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion and Strategic Investments inside target communities.

The media tour and briefing in Salt Spring was joined by the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s (JCF) Senior Superintendent Vernon Ellis, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Clifford Campbell, and Senior Superintendent and Stephanie Lindsay – all partners of Project STAR.

Updates on the difference that social interventions are making in Salt Spring were heard from SSP Ellis, who leads a strong community policing programme in the area, and PSOJ Vice President, John Byles, who spearheads several social initiatives, including a breakfast programme at Salt Spring Primary.

Their remarks were supported by Principal, Norma Brydson, who noted that “attendance and punctuality have gone through the roof since the breakfast programme…and we are also seeing a marked improvement in student performance.”

A strong appeal was also made for the media to partner with Project STAR in its efforts to inspire an All-of-Society approach to transformation, as according to Mr. Duncan, “Jamaicans are ready for a reset”.

Project STAR is working with several key collaborators, including the Violence Prevention Alliance, Project ALPHA and Blue Dot Insights, who are assisting with baselining and mapping communities, the data from which will help to inform programme design.