USAID breaks ground for Bogue community resource centre
Published:Thursday | March 3, 2016 | 12:00 AM
Western Bureau:
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) broke ground yesterday for the construction of a community resource centre (CRC) in Bogue, St James, as part of its Community Empowerment and Transformation Project (COMET) Phase 2.
Denise Herbol, USAID mission director to Jamaica, lauded the resource centre, which will be constructed at a cost of J$15 million as a potential hub for improving police-community relations and providing economic opportunities for its users.
"The CRC is going to function as a hub for community interaction and empowerment. It is going to include a civic space for community-policing activities and a space for a business enterprise, which is very important for this community to provide alternatives to negative activities like the lottery scam," Herbol told residents in a brief address.
"The CRC is going to be an important hub for community policing in Bogue, allowing the Jamaica Constabulary Force to increase its presence here, building ties to work more closely with you and the young people of this area," Herbol added.
"The community will be in a better position to create more economic value. The existence of commercial space in the CRC is going to improve economic viability in the Bogue community and the wider community."
PROMOTING STRONGER COMMUNITY
Yesterday's groundbreaking ceremony in Bogue followed a similar exercise for the construction of a CRC in the Cambridge community and the closing ceremony for a three-day community journalism training workshop at the University of Technology's western campus in Montego Bay, both of which took place on Wednesday.
All three activities were part of USAID's mandate to promote community-building activities in its COMET Phase 2 project.
Upon completion, the resource centre at Bogue will include a community development committee office and will be outfitted with water-catchment facilities, solar panels, environmentally safe waste disposal, and disaster risk-reduction equipment.
"The centre that we are going to break ground for will be an example of what can happen when all the stakeholders rally together and make change happen," said Herbol.
"It will be the place to go to for inspiration and support. It is going to be a place of pride for your community."