Gore helping to educate Jamaican youth

A better education for all Jamaicans is at the heart of the common goal and overriding objective of Gore Developments Limited (GDL) and the Gore Family Foundation (GFF).

As GDL grants and scholarships to young Jamaicans together with funding for educational institutions were distributed, chairman Phillip Gore had a thought: GDL's own staff must also benefit and receive assistance to educate their children. So in September 2011, the educational grant programme for employees got under way, and to encourage the all-important message to their children - "education is the key and the way forward".

In the most practical and helpful way, GDL provides annual financial assistance to the biological children of full-time, monthly-paid staff members, for tuition and the attendant costs. Each staff member can apply for one child, whether that application covers a fee for each term or an annual tuition fee. The programme includes children at preschool, preparatory and primary schools, secondary and tertiary level education.

EXCELLENT ATTENDANCE

As an incentive, and to send a firm message to all participating students, children and teens alike must be in school every day with an excellent attendance record, while maintaining no lower than a 75 per cent grade-point average (or equivalent), and a 3.0 GPA for students at the tertiary level. Each grant awarded is up to a maximum of $200,000 annually for each and every employee, paid in three equal installments.

At the start of the new school year in September, GDL will also fund a child's uniform and books. So it's a busy month for the programme coordinator, gathering booklists from the many parents, and then it's over to GFF's staff to track down and purchase the necessary textbooks and literature required from the various outlets all over Kingston.