Junior Chambers International (JCI) wants to do more for youth in Barbados and has already begun discussions with officials from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment to start the process.
This was disclosed during a recent courtesy call to Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, by the 2024 JCI Barbados President, Devon Parris, and 2024 JCI National President of the West Indies, Meritta Hyacinth, at the Ministry’s headquarters, Haggatt Hall, St. Michael.
Junior Chamber International is a non-profit international non-governmental organisation of young people between 18 and 40 years old. It has members in about 124 countries.
The members of the JCI organisation suggested that one way they could increase their membership and deliver their programmes to the desired demographic in an efficient manner would be to partner with government entities.
The JCI currently has a programme called “Second Chances” with the Probation Department, which seeks to provide persons within the system with a second chance, and a Mathematics programme, which caters to 53 Class Four students at St. Giles and Milton Lynch Primary Schools and The Ellerslie School.
Mr. Griffith suggested that utilising the Ministry’s resources could help them reach more young people. “We have a list of all the cultural and sports groups on island, so you may want to tap into that resource as well. But in addition to that, we have summer camps; this will give you an opportunity to build profile,” he said.
The Minister also indicated that he would like to have Barbadians travel to other Caribbean countries to experience JCI, as the organisation is also in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Ms. Hyacinth stated: “Every year, we have something called the National Convention.… It’s held in a different country every year. So, next year, it would be in St. Vincent. This year, it is in Guyana. What happens is that young people from different JCI organisations come to the convention.”