Once unemployed, 18 youths selected from the Uitvlugt and Stewartville, West Coast Demerara communities now have temporary jobs as a result of the Guyana Police Force ‘D’ Division administration’s social intervention project, C-PETS (Creating Positive Environments through Safer Communities and Partnerships).
The initiative is intended to reduce crime and unemployment on the West Coast of Demerara. “The initiative is geared at getting youths off the streets and to empower them, while it is also intended to tackle the reduction of crime,” Deputy Commander Stephen Marshall said.
The youths will be employed with Kares Engineering at Windsor Forest, where they will earn up to $40,000 monthly, while receiving on-the-job training.
They will be exposed to a diverse trade in the construction field, since Kares has ongoing work at different locations in the division, including the construction of the Zeeburg Secondary School.
David Jason Miller, 21, a resident of Uitvlugt, is one of the beneficiaries of the initiative along with his 17-year-old brother, Jason Miller.
David welcomed the programme since he is now employed close to his home. Previously, he ventured into the interior to seek employment.
“As you know, jobs are hard to get and I think they should get more things like this because it is beneficial to the youths,” he said.
He also learnt from a foreman at Kares that the work attitudes of the young men who are part of the programme will be observed and then a decision will be taken by management about whether the workers have demonstrated enough skills to join the permanent staff.
Marshall told Stabroek News that he recently met with 75 youths from Stewartville, Uitvlugt, De Willem, Zeeburg and Meten-Meer-Zorg to discuss the issues of unemployment affecting them and to look for avenues in which the police division can assist them.
As part of the C-PETS project, nine young women from the West Coast of Demerara also benefitted from training offered by the Madina Restaurant at Zeeburg.
In addition, 300 kites were handed over to the ‘D’ Division Police by Kares Engineering to be distributed to the less fortunate throughout the division.
