Three major entities on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Montego Bay to forge a public-private partnership that is aimed at granting some 25 unattached youths the opportunity to transform their lives through a major skills-training and apprenticeship programme.
The three entities, the Phillip and Christine Gore Family Foundation, Heart Trust/NTA and the Government’s Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme, aim to target youngsters between the ages of 18 and 24.
During the signing ceremony, held at the Montego West Village in Fairfield, Colonel Martin Rickman, the national coordinator for HOPE, took time out to stress the importance of the initiative.
“This is a significant point for HOPE because I have been trying to get many government and private organisations on board with HOPE to open their doors and take on some of these unattached youths who number more than 200,000 individuals across Jamaica,” explained Rickman.