KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- The executive director of the non-governmental organization MultiCare Youth Foundation, Alicia Glasgow-Gentles, says at-risk youth engaged in the European Union (EU)-funded BRIDGE Project are being exposed to art as a channel to prevent violence.
The project is intended to prevent youth crime and violence by targeting at-risk youngsters aged 15 to 29 in specific communities. Mrs Glasgow-Gentles said the decision to use art stems from the partnership forged with Crime Stop Jamaica.
“The partnership with Crime Stop was primarily because we are aligned in terms of our roles to create youth engagement that will help to reduce crime and violence. We wanted to ensure that the youth were the ones creating the messages about the need for change in terms of crime and violence,” Mrs. Glasgow Gentles said.
She said that the partners opted for art as the preferred platform for creating messages of change and hope and that the youngsters were exposed to training in the film-production process, courtesy of the creative agency, The LAB.
“They were tasked with not only learning the technical skills but also using photography and videography to tell the stories of the ills in their society and what they, on the other hand, want to change.”
Mrs. Glasgow Gentles said unfortunately, young people are both the primary perpetrators and victims of crime, underscoring the importance of engaging these youngsters under the BRIDGE Project and enlightening their roles in reducing crime and violence.
“I think that partnership [with Crime Stop] is about engaging the youth to ensure they are part of the messaging. We need to end crime and violence, and this is how we intend to highlight some of the challenges for us as young people and what we see as the solutions to create that change,” she said.
In November 2022, the police said that 875 significant crimes committed in Jamaica from 2019 to 2022 were carried out by perpetrators between 15 and 17 years of age. The police said at the time that those crimes included 256 breaches of the Firearms Act, along with 79 murders, 66 shootings, 175 rapes, 89 robberies and 65 cases of aggravated assault.
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