Cummings: St Michael's Home to reopen

MINISTER of Youth Development and National Service Foster Cummings said St Michael's Home for Boys will be reopened under a new management structure, to cater for 100 vulnerable youngsters.

He was speaking in the budget debate on Monday in the House of Representatives.

He said the facility will be re-purposed and be run in partnership with the Defence Force to accommodate the young men. In a text message to Newsday later, Cummings said, "The St Michael's School for Boys is being refurbished and will operate as the CHINS (Children in Need of Supervision) facility for boys. The proposed Youth Development Agency of Trinidad and Tobago will manage the facility when completed."

He also announced that Josephine Shaw Home in Port of Spain will accommodate young women, 18-25, transitioning from community residences, to benefit from holistic development and job placement.

"We are not going to leave our young ladies to end up on the street."

A transition home will be established for young men, 18-24, and one for young women 18-plus in Sevilla to transition into adulthood and independent living.

Cummings announced a full-time Youth Agricultural Homestead Programme for 200 full-time participants (out of 1,400 applicants), to expand next year to add an extra 200 applicants part-time.

The programme offers full training in crop production and animal husbandry, and then practical training on assigned land, to curb youth unemployment and boost agriculture.

It gives theoretical and practical agricultural training, training in infrastructure development (utilities, starter homes, site preparation and access roads) and business advisory/support.

Participants can practise on a two-acre lot of land and access a $20,000 grant to start up their "21st-century agri enterprises."

Cummings also promised a programme for individuals who wished to change careers.

He said a Youth Shade House programme would train 100 youngsters at a site in Tucker Valley in collaboration with UWI and a Guyanese institution, as he hailed the Prime Minister for his vision to invest in youth.

"The Shade House Project’s ethos is youth entrepreneurship and will directly address issues of youth employment, underemployment and poverty and provide significant agro-entrepreneurship opportunities and technical assistance with production, harvesting, marketing and market intelligence."

Cummings promised a Moruga farm school. He said agri-entrepreneurs can also benefit from Nedco's Business Accelerator Programme.

He said the National Service programme would include MILAT, MYPART and the Civilian Conservation Corps at two sites, respectively in north and south Trinidad.

Speaking to Newsday later, Cummings reckoned some 400 full- and part-time participants would eventually be graduating from the programme each year, such that in a three-year period the country would benefit from 1,200 new young agricultural entrepreneurs.

He announced the Amplify programme run with the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC).

"In the last fiscal, Amplify trained young persons between the ages of 16 and 35 to become skilled music producers and arrangers. Amplify also includes mentorship, entrepreneurship and life-skills training opportunities."

The NESC also helps run the AllSet Programme for 100 young men and women, 18-35, to learn to drive heavy equipment such as loaders, dump trucks and bulldozers.

"This programme opens a pathway for young people who would not have had access to be trained and certified in this area.

"It gives these young men and women access to specialised equipment, training and expert facilitators, which is not readily available to entrants into the industry."

Cummings also listed courses in barbering/hairdressing, computer technology skills (mobile application development, web design and coding), and social media/entrepreneurship skills.

He promised residential Youth Development and Apprenticeship Centres, or youth camps for youngsters 17-25, at Persto Praesto, Chatham and El Dorado.

Cummings said the ministry runs six non-residential in Laventille, California, St. James, Malick, Los Bajos and Basilon Street (Port of Spain), with more due at La Horquetta, Point Fortin, Palo Seco and subsequently elsewhere.