JN leading through action

The Jamaica National Foundation comes of age in 2011, turning 21 years old. Going by the mantra 'Innovating, Inspiring, Impacting ... Leading with Action', it was established as the Jamaica National Building Society's (JNBS) charitable arm, but has since developed into the entity mandated with corporate social responsibility across the group.

One of its prominent programmes is the Jamaica Partnership for Education, done in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development and established in 2008. Under that programme, persons in the diaspora are encouraged to make financial contributions towards the improvement of the public-school system in Jamaica.

many beneficiaries

The foundation's May 2011 newsletter lists a number of schools across Jamaica as beneficiaries of Jamaica Partnership for Education. They are Chester Castle All-Age, Troja Primary, Harewood Primary, Mearnsville All-Age, Strawberry Primary and Junior High, Osborne Store Primary and Junior High, Albion Primary and Junior High and Glendevon Primary and Junior High.

Through the Resolution Project (formerly Youth Zoom), students are trained in not only photography but advocacy through using their lens. That programme was conceptualised by JNBS Chairman Earl Jarrett in 2004. Insightful pictures of Granville in St James and Tivoli Gardens in Kingston (2011) have been taken by the young persons who know their communities best.

sustainable projects

Guidelines for accessing funding on the foundation's website state that proposed projects must be in one or more of four areas - economic and community development; arts, culture and heritage; youth and education; and health, security and safety. The sustainability of projects is underscored by the requirement:

"These initiatives must have a lifespan after funding has ended, or they must have led to a change in attitudes or behaviour towards a specific issue."

The Member Advisory Council, a group of members from one of the JNBS's branches or moneyshops, handles funding grants up to $300,000, with the JN Foundation Grant Scheme responsible for grants over that figure.