USAID giving at-risk youth lifeline through sports
Published:Saturday | April 30, 2022 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Thirty-one-year-old Brian Turner believes that it was a stipend being offered for participating in the USAID-sponsored A Ganar programme in 2012 that saved him, then an at-risk youngster in an inner-city community, from a life of crime.
He believes that more programmes of a similar nature could also propel other marginalised youth to a brighter future.
The A Ganar programme in which Turner was enrolled a decade ago targeted at-risk youth in Allman Town and Fletcher’s Land areas of downtown Kingston, using sports-based activities such as football, cricket and track and field.
“They offered a stipend. They offered payment for going to school. When the school pays you to come to school, it’s a great initiative. It takes the children out the streets and teach them to just save and gather as much as they can,” Turner told The Gleaner.
“Mi wouldn’t deh inna di position mi in right now. Mi a be real honest, that start is where it started,” he said of the initiative which sparked hope for him.
A Ganar – a Spanish term that translates as “to win or to earn” – taught him and other youth primary skills in sports.
“Sports is really a key factor in changing the mindset of a younger guy. I’ve been through a lot and, from the place I’m from, it’s [an accomplishment] to be [heading in a certain] direction,” Turner told The Gleaner.
“I lived in a garrison [with] a lot of turmoil. So, to keep grounded, football is a key component in changing the mindset of the youth and going forward. As a coach, you can learn how to groom kids and teach them to do the right things. If you want to win, you have to win. You want to lose, you gotta play to lose,” he said.
“I really appreciate the USAID. I never even knew [where] I would be at this point. Going forward, I know something in the back of my head [saying] that I’m not supposed to stop. That’s just the core,” he added.
Turner now works at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.
He also owns an online-based store – @japopupshop on social media site Instagram – which sells a variety of colognes.
His advice to other youth living in a similar situation he was in the past? “Do the right thing now. Let go the waste-time thing and do the right thing – everything weh you feel is right – fi get to the best place.”
It is youth such as Turner who the USAID is now aiming again to reach through its Positive Pathways Sport for Development (S4D) Grant. This initiative was launched at the Usain Bolt Track at The University of the West Indies, Mona, on April 6, which was globally recognised as International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
“Sport is not just a way to bring youth together and have fun. Sport can be used intentionally to promote the development of life skills and critical-thinking skills, for workforce development, to promote peace, to prevent HIV/AIDS, and ... for promoting positive youth development and for violence prevention,” said Alex Gainer, the acting country representative for USAID Jamaica.
“We are happy to announce that USAID is investing $44.2 million (US$285,000) into activities that intentionally use sport as a tool for youth development and violence prevention,” he added.
Gainer explained that these grants will directly benefit more than 700 at-risk Jamaican youth and 100 parents or caregivers in 10 violence-prone communities in the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, Clarendon, and St James.
The grants will also facilitate training for more than 100 coaches and leaders/facilitators in the intentional use of sport for violence prevention in the same communities.
According to Andre Wilson, executive director of the Youth-For-Development Network (YFDN), one of the USAID grantees, “With USAID support, YFDN has impacted over 3,000 vulnerable youth islandwide using the power of sport as a tool for development and common language for connecting and learning. This new award is timely as it will help us to collectively measure the use of sport towards promoting peace and preventing violence in Jamaica.”
Project Gold, which is led by executive director and former Sunshine Girls captain Simone Forbes, is another grantee.
According to Forbes, her entity’s interventions with vulnerable youth reveal the need for positive role models, guidance and supervision, and adequate recreational facilities to promote team building, social skills and self-development.
“We thank USAID for their support, which is most welcome, as it provides an opportunity for the Project Gold team to continue using sports for development in the communities with our youths,” Forbes said.