$20m welfare fund for sport, culture and entertainment practitioners

A special welfare fund with a starting value of $20 million has been established to support sport, culture and entertainment practitioners facing hardship.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange said the fund is to be managed by a committee led by former Jamaica Olympic Association president, Mike Fennell.

State minister of health and Olympian, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, will also sit on the committee.

“I want to build a programme of support, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, for our sports, culture and entertainment practitioners who fall on hard times. I will also be engaging the administrator general and the minister of justice to see how we can establish a trust fund similar to what we have done for the survivors of the Coral Gardens incident,” she said during her Sectoral Debate contribution in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

Victims of the 1963 Coral Gardens massacre have been benefiting from a trust fund which was established in December 2019.

Grange’s ministry has contributed more than $90 million to the trust, which is managed by the Administrator General of Jamaica.

The minister added that she is also engaging in discussion with the social security arm of the ministry to get funds to top up the $20 million she has so far identified.

In the last financial year, the ministry provided $11 million in assistance to retired and active athletes and sports personnel from the welfare fund, through the Sports Development Foundation.

Further details will be announced at the fund’s launch.