Woodford is a farming district tucked away in the hills of east rural St Andrew but it has several things going for it. Apart from its negligible crime rate and its location in a verdant environment, it was Friday declared a national example of true community spirit.

“It is the best example of the Jamaican traditions of self-help and self-reliance,” said Grace McGhie-Brown, secretary of the Michael Manley Foundation. And for that, the community won itself $200,000 plus the coveted Michael Manley Award for Community Self-reliance.

Since 2004, the competition has staged in association with the Environment Foundation of Jamaica.

Friday’s awards ceremony was held at the Little Theatre in Kingston.

Woodford came out on top of a total 15 entries across the country and seven short-listed candidates with its Homework and Learning Centre built in 2004 to answer the community’s needs for educational intervention.

To date, the centre, which is a project of the Woodford Community Action Group, offers preparation classes for Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), remedial reading and computer courses. It also does parenting seminars and offers Internet and fax services.

“I think Michael Manley would have been particularly interested in this project because it is an example of the upper-class, middle-class and grass roots members of the community coming together for the benefit of the entire community,” said chief judge Dr Peta-Anne Baker.

She admitted though that this year’s competition was difficult to judge because of the high quality of all seven short-listed projects.

“We were actually torn between Flanker and Woodford,” she told the Sunday Observer. “What gave them the edge [however] was the institutionalisation aspect, because they have the Woodford Community Action Group, which is a functional entity from within the community. It has been in existence for some time now and has even had elections through which they have been able to deal with leadership succession.”

Members of the action group themselves thought the competition was keen and wondered whether they would have copped the trophy.

“When we did the interview, we thought we had a good chance of winning, but looking at the other videos today and how tight the competition was, we weren’t so sure,” said executive member of the group, Neville Mais.

“I think what gave us the edge was our structural organisation and how much impact the centre has had on the youngsters in the community,” added group president Cedric Pascoe.

And while it has not yet decided how the $200,000 will be spent, the Woodford Community Action Group says the money will go either towards education in terms of expanding and upgrading the homework and learning centre, or to sports in terms of building a community sports complex.

This year’s other winners were Promoting Children’s Rights to Development, a programme by a group of citizens in rural St Catherine; the Flanker Community Development Centre, St James and the Martha Brae Youth Expression (YES) Club and Homework Centre. With the exception of the YES Club, which received book tokens and $25,000, the projects each won $100,000 from the EFJ.

In 2007, Woodford placed second for Kingston & St Andrew (KSA) in the Digicel Foundation Best Community competition. The centre was also voted the best-kept educational facility in the KSA region.