Re-birth project, JCF partner in at-risk youth intervention initiative

Constable Ricardo McCalpin, assistant coordinator of the National Safe Schools Programme, facilitates a Re-Birth Project workshop on conflict management with student-participants of the programme held at Caenwood Auditorium recently. - Contributed

Recognising the need for community in reaching and saving our youth, the Re-Birth Project has teamed up with the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to provide support to the intervention initiative for at-risk youth and their parents.

"This phase of the programme is about 3As - Aspiration, Attitude and Achievement as young people are more likely to achieve positive outcomes when they develop ambitious, achievable aspirations, combined with strong self-esteem, self-efficacy (attitude), information and inspiration. But the behavioural issues, and influences around them, many times affect their achievement. Thus we have included the major stakeholders - the parents, the school, corporate Jamaica and even the police - in this job of building resilience and promoting elevated academic standards," Melody Cammock-Gayle, co-founder of the Re-Birth Project, said.

Launched in March, the Re-Birth Project, endorsed by the Ministry of Education (MoE), the National Parenting Support Commission and the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, is a nine-week programme aimed at positive behaviour modification of 20 select youth aged 14-17 residing in volatile communities in Kingston and St Andrew. The students, selected by the MoE from Norman Manley and Tivoli Gardens high schools, are pupils with the potential to do well academically, but display maladjusted behaviour which manifests in fights, truancy, failing grades, conflict with peers and blatant disrespect for authority.

Working with the Project since its inception in 2014, Constable Ricardo McCalpin, assistant coordinator of the National Safe Schools Programme, described the Re-Birth Project as very effective.

"Based on my observation, the Re-Birth Project has been, and continues to be, a fruitful programme. I have seen changes in the mindset of participants since they have been involved in the project. I have also seen better parent-child relationships, as both are now better equipped to deal with some of the challenges respective families and even the schools encounter," McCalpin said.

He commended the hands-on, non-judgemental approach of the programme in addressing and delivering relevant topics, by giving participants the opportunity to be involved in the workshops. This, he said, enabled the participants to internalise the material being taught as well as formulate solutions for real-life scenarios.

Many of the problems being addressed at the Re-Birth Project, the constable said, are issues his team sees in schools across the island, from indiscipline to truancy, gambling, bleaching, gang-related activities like bullying and extortion and perennial fighting. The latter, also a serious concern at the Norman Manley and Tivoli Gardens high schools, recently formed the subject of a two-week workshop on conflict management facilitated by McCalpin.

"It would seem that the students' self-esteem and self-worth are bound up in showing who is the 'baddest', and so everyone has something to prove. We have a child who was offered a tertiary scholarship if she could get her act together, and she's still fighting. We are trying to get them to understand, yes, you can stand out, but with a reputation for other things. How about being the brightest, most disciplined?" Cammock-Gayle said.

"What you find is a general disrespect for authority. The children do not respect their parents, and so there is no respect for anyone. This, in turn, results in parent-child conflict, as parents try to enforce some regulation. Then there is peer-to-peer conflict. No one is backing down. They respond to everything, insisting on retribution. So it is important to teach different conflict-resolution styles like ignoring, compromising, collaborating and negotiating, which show the youth that conflicts can have a positive outcome, or be avoided altogether," McCalpin explained.