JPS Foundation gives a helping hand to Brown’s Town Community College

Fourteen students at Brown’s Town Community College (BTCC) will benefit from a $1 million JPS Foundation partnership to support its electrical installation programme.

Sophia Lewis, head of the foundation, told students and staff the partnership “will strengthen the Electrical Installation Level II programme by providing students with modern electrical toolkits, personal protective equipment and a student support bursary.”

The initiative forms part of the Power Up Community Action project and is designed to benefit underserved rural youth across St Ann, Trelawny and St Mary by enhancing training quality, promoting safety and improving job readiness, which aligns with national workforce development goals.

With community empowerment a main pillar, Lewis emphasised the goals intended for the collaborative effort and the broader mission plan. “The foundation’s support will play a vital role in transforming lives through access to industry-level skills,” she asserted, adding that “this project builds on lessons learnt from two previous projects in 2022 and 2024, which were both focused on increasing the employability and entrepreneurial capacity of youth from vulnerable communities.” She was speaking at the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last week.

Last year, the JPS Foundation launched the Community Action (CA) project in conjunction with Excelsior Community College. The project aims to provide participants with employable skills and entrepreneurial empowerment.

Hailing from August Town, Seaview Gardens, Queensborough, Seivwright Gardens and elsewhere, the 33 participants at Excelsior Community College graduated from the five-month CA programme at the Mountain View Avenue institution in St Andrew, acquiring knowledge in electrical and solar installation, numeracy and literacy, entrepreneurship and life skills.

Fast forward to the present day, and the newly signed project at BTCC has been warmly received by principal Claudeth Haughton. “The students are being prepared to go into the world of work to support electrical installation activities,” she said in a post-ceremony interview. “The hope is their acquired skill set will move them to continue studying or become gainfully employed. Most of them usually align themselves with construction companies and I believe some of them go out and eventually start their own businesses. But in terms of the early stage, they work with other licensed electricians.”

For Haughton, who has been steward of the institution for the past 11 years, the partnered electrical programme — certified by the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) — will help students facing financial and personal development challenges.

The principal further noted that this year’s cohort of electrical installation students will also benefit from grants.

“In addition to that, there is technical support with a mentorship programme where the students will get an opportunity to go out into the field and engage,” she added.

Complementary support will include field trips to JPS energy plants and sustained relationships with the company’s Volunteers On Location To Serve (VOLTS), who will act as mentors.