'We need to hear more about youth programmes' – Stacy Mather
Mr Mather was at the time showering praises on the Rotary Club of Tortola for their investment so far into YEP, which has seen the community organisation successful through to this their 10th year of being established in the East End community.
Rotary Club of Tortola invested heavily
Last week Thursday May 28, 2015 Mr Mather was the special guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Tortola’s Lunch Meeting where he said his presence was primarily to provide a feed-back to the members on YEP’s Progress. “I am back at Rotary Club of Tortola to tell you how that money was spent and what we have been doing for 10 years,” said Mr Mather.
It was while speaking of the impact their programmes have on over some 800 youths who would have passed through and are still in the progamme that he made the call for more politicians to get involved. “I hope that the one week that we have left for the election that youth programmes are spoken about more and the demands for youth programmes,” said Mather.
He said that they now have child protection programmes as they have discovered to be very necessary in today’s society because of the level of trust that children have put in YEP staff that they are being told what is happening to them in today’s society.
The Blue doors
“If you pass the building now you will notice that the doors are now painted blue and blue is compassion for child abuse, so our doors are blue and they are blue for a reason,” he related.
He said that when the Centre first opened, many persons in the East End Community said, “My child is not going to that Centre,” as they thought of it as one that resembled a detention centre. “Ten years later we have provided activities for over 800 hundred children, ten years we provided activities that I wish I could have done when I was their age,” he announced.
One of the things that YEP’s management has been keen on doing is the conducting of a mass survey every four years and, according to Mather, the first was done in 2011. He said in 2011, 80% of the members said that they felt good about themselves and in 2015 that number is up to 97%, 72% said that they feel less shy around adults, 70% said they plan to go on to college in 2015. “That’s phenomenal for our young people to want to go further than where they are,” noted Mather. This was specific to children between the ages of 10 – 15 years.
YEP not only for East End youths
The Youth Empowerment Programme started out with students from the age of 10 – 15 years, however, today it is accepting children from the age of 8 years old. And unlike in its humble beginning, it has opened itsr doors not only to children of East End but to children from across the territory.
Mather said that currently YEP is now doing much more than it had originally envisioned as it is currently collaborating with entities, including Social Development Department, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Family Support Network (FSN) and within the community. He said it has succeeded in helping parents and youth find jobs, providing food for families and uniforms for school children.
“We have found ourselves now encompassing all the needs within that community,” said Mather.
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Digging a ditch for others causes the digger to fall in a ditch also. Sow good seeds of thoughts, words and actions and you will reap a bountiful harvest. All types of people are getting tattoos for a variety of reasons, by people here in this territory, by people that don't care about their health.
If we would spend less time condemning those with clean hearts because we do NOT like their outward appearance and more time shunning those things that are deceptively appealing to our eyes and ears, we may be better able to help our society advance with practical solutions. We have become a people who crave negativity and shun positivity. We crave instant gratification and shun long-term sustainability.
If we open our eyes and look within, we would realise that our youth need to see a united front from the adults who "say" they are working on a brighter future for them, but are physically and emotionally absent.
Hatcha
Design classy!!! Pictures O M G , them looking good to GREAT, except i did not understand why the district reps run from 1, 2, 3, to 7, 8, 9 and then 4, 5, 6.
If this is an error somebody please fix it. I know it must have been a slip of finger and not slip of mind
Keep it coming VIP all the wayyyyyyy going FORWARDdddddddd. to the House of Assemble, no turning back