Members of the JA-STYLE youth advisory board pose with Karen Turner (centre), mission director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Jamaica and Caribbean Regional Programme, after they received their certificates from her during the USAID-funded JA-STYLE's youth advisory board launch at the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew yesterday. - Norman Grindley/ Deputy Chief Photographer

Twelve young persons, age 12 to 19 years, were officially presented as board members of the Jamaica Solution to Youth Lifestyle and Empowerment (JA-STYLE) project yesterday.

The board members, presented at the official launch of the youth advisory board at the Terra Nova Hotel in St. Andrew, represent five parishes across the island and are expected to provide a youth perspective to JA-STYLE, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded adolescent healthy lifestyle project.

JA-STYLE, which was launched in February of this year, helps to improve the lives of young Jamaicans by addressing issues of reproductive health and HIV/ AIDS, as well as violence prevention and substance abuse.

The board members are: Kamar Brown, chairman; Dwayne Brown, Vanessa Foote, Garcia Forbes, Latoyah Gordon, Yannick Hemmings, Simone Holness, Jodie Ann Marshall, George Newman, Tracia-Ann Pearson, Kadeen Roberts and Tashique Thomas.

Advocates for issues

Betty-Ann Blaine, convenor of advocacy group Hear the Children's Cry, who was guest speaker at the launch, urged the several young persons in attendance to become advocates for issues affecting them.

She said that among the issues was the increasing number of missing teenagers in the country and that, within the last two years, there have been 5,000 missing persons of which 70 per cent were teens.

"So if you are a teenager, your chance of going missing is greatest than any other group in this country," Ms. Blaine said.

"There are problems with education, the environment, problems with family life, not to mention homelessness, the general situation of crime, street children, and the list goes on and on. One can't help but being an advocate in Jamaica."

She said advocacy was not an option but an obligation, and that advocacy and good governance are inextricably bound.

"Let me say this, you can't complain about bad governance if you are not an advocate for good governance. It is only when you act that you have any right to criticise."