The crime plagued Salt Spring Community in St. James is next in line to benefit from the social intervention programmes being facilitated through Project Star.

Project Star is a social and economic transformation initiative being implemented by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) in partnership with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Vice President of the PSOJ and Data Specialist for Project Star, Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee says Salt Spring was selected because it was one of the top communities in St. James for total major crimes over the last three years and had the highest rate of increase in major crimes over the past twelve months.

He said Project Star is going to provide support to arrest the increasing trend of crime in Salt Spring. 

The PSOJ Vice President explained that institutions such as churches, schools, and community organisations will help facilitate the initiatives that will be put in place by Project Star.

Meanwhile, Project Director Saffrey Brown, said the Project Star team will be focusing on community led development, as it believes it is the foundation of progress.

She noted that so far, Project Star has been working in the communities of Downtown Kingston, Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland, and May Pen in Clarendon.

Ms. Brown said the project has been able to start providing responses to a wide cross-section of the communities’ ecosystems.

She noted that traditionally, interventions have focused on specific target groups, such as at-risk youth or entrepreneurs.

However, Project Star’s approach seeks to ensure that all key populations within a space have opportunities for accessing social and economic opportunities.

Noting the successes of Project Star’s intervention within the last six months, Ms. Brown said 143 community members were trained in economic empowerment and more than 50 members obtained employment under Project Star’s Job Placement pilot programme.

She added that 96 individuals have been impacted by entrepreneurial based support, more than 1,500 were involved in community consultation and planning and 29 institutional and organizational stakeholders involved in project delivery.