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Diaspora education fundraising flop

Published:Wednesday | May 13, 2020 | 12:26 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Then Minister of Education Ruel Reid (second left) accepts the keys to Broward County from County Commissioner Dale Holness at the Third Biennial Advancement Education Summit held at the Miramar City Hall. The three-day summit was hosted by the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force. With them are Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam (left) and Leo Gilling, chairman of the Diaspora Education Task Force.
Then Minister of Education Ruel Reid (second left) accepts the keys to Broward County from County Commissioner Dale Holness at the Third Biennial Advancement Education Summit held at the Miramar City Hall. The three-day summit was hosted by the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force. With them are Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam (left) and Leo Gilling, chairman of the Diaspora Education Task Force.

LAUNCHED WITH much fanfare in October 2016 with a goal of raising US$2 million to assist schools in Jamaica as well as to promote professional development, the Pledge2Build project is a bust.

Four years later, the organisers reported raising US$5,500.

The initiative was pioneered by the Jamaica Diaspora Education Task Force, headed by Leo Gilling, in partnership with the Union of Jamaica Alumni Association (UJAA).

Gilling, responding by email to The Gleaner, said that he did not handle the funds, adding that questions should be directed to the UJAA and its president, Leslyann Samuels.

Samuels revealed that US$5,500 was raised from November 2016 to October 2017.

The UJAA president said that the funds were used to finance the 2018 JDETF Education Summit, which was held in Miramar, Florida, from March 21-24.

The summit included Broward County elementary, high school and college tours, presentations on professional development, workshops and meetings for teachers and others, and an Alumni Day.

The event was attended by a broad spectrum of teachers from Jamaica, as well as school administrators, and representatives from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.

Alumni Day also included Florida members of the alumni community as well as representatives from AJAA (in Canada) and UJAA (in New York).

The then minister of education, Ruel Reid, was guest speaker at the Florida education summit.

Reid is currently at the centre of a corruption case involving his family, a municipal councillor, and long-time associate, Professor Fritz Pinnock, over the alleged misuse of funds under the purview of the Ministry of Education and Caribbean Maritime University.

But community leaders in the Northeast region are wondering why it took four years for the amount raised to be disclosed and why the community had not been informed about the expenditure.

The fundraising drive was officially launched by Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, Audrey Marks, at a reception held at the Embassy of Jamaica in Washington, DC.

In her address, Marks urged expatriates to support the cause.

“I encourage all gathered here today to support this important drive, and I’m confident that with the strength and determination that define us as Jamaicans, we can accomplish whatever we set our minds to,” she said.

Gilling had said that the fundraising drive would be launched at the various Jamaican missions in North America, Canada and the United Kingdom.

One feature of the fundraising campaign, he said, was to have been an inter-parish competition among Jamaicans across the globe.

The official campaign was scheduled to commence on November 1, 2016 and last until January 31, 2017. The deadline was later extended.