THE Rotary Club of Spanish Town has embarked on a $25-million project to provide a multi-skills training centre for young people in and around the old capital, club president Dr Dane Levy has announced.

The centre, to be located on the premises of the YMCA, would serve over 300 young people yearly in various skills and curriculum development, Levy said at a recent meeting.

“After careful studies involving the Social Development Commission (SDC), HEART /NTA (National Training Academy) and the YMCA, we’ve found that there is definitely a need for this kind of training in the area and it has been endorsed by the community,” said Levy.

The training would be aimed at taking participants to at least level one and on completion should make them employable anywhere in the Caribbean Single Market (CSM), he added.

Speaking with the Observer afterwards, Levy said the Rotary Club had already secured $10m towards the project

“The fact that CHASE (Fund) has taken us on in a good way…I figure we will be able to start this project, definitely by March or April the latest and we have a 10-month time frame for the entire project,” Levy explained.

He said the St Catherine Parish Council was fully behind the effort and had provided guidelines for the Rotary Club to meet the heritage requirements, including architectual designs, because the project would be situated within the heritage district.

The Rotary Club of Spanish Town is celebrating 25 years this year, having been chartered in 1981. Up until recently, the club had six female members, two of whom have since migrated. This is the third year since the club started admitting female members.

The club’s projects cover community service, such as assistance to a basic school with feeding and equipment; child abuse, drug abuse and spousal abuse, with the provision of counselling, mediators and mentor, and an environmental project emphasising plastic recycling. In addition, the club runs a scholarship programme with the Rotary Foundation.

In an address to the club, the chairman of the CHASE Fund, Dr Carlton Davis, underscored the need for such facilities as a means of combating the scourge of crime which had beset the historic town in recent times.

“Crime is one of the things we have to keep at the fore; how are we going to win this long war against it? We’ll have to deal with it and win this battle in many areas,” he said.

“Skills training, socialisation of people, cleaning up the environment and providing sports facilities, are the sort of things that will get people onto a more constructive life,” he added.