MONTEGO BAY, St James Alack of funding has been blamed for the closure of the Le Antonio’s Homework and Development Centre which catered to the educational needs of more than 75 children in Barnett Lane and several other inner-city communities in Montego Bay.

“We are very saddened by the closure of the centre, but we had no choice. The funding and support just wasn’t there to keep the facility running, so we did not reopen for the new school year,” a seemingly disappointed Antonio McKoy, the founder and president of Le Antonio’s Foundation told the Jamaica Observer West yesterday.

The facility, located at 1 Barnett Lane at a section of a building that houses the offices of Le Antonio’s Roofing and Construction, provided assistance to students with their homework, lunch money and allowed them an opportunity to do research, learn Spanish and French, and to express their creativity in the Art Club. Students who attended the centre were also afforded the opportunity to go on field trips and excursions.

Earlier this year, McKoy warned that if the foundation did not receive financial assistance soon, at least 75 children from the underserved communities of Barnett Lane, Railway Lane, and its environs would lose the benefits of the free service provided by the homework and development centre.

“Le Antonio’s Foundation Homework Centre, which serves the at-risk inner-city youths and families in Montego Bay and neighbouring parishes, is in desperate need of funding… if we don’t get it [we] will not be able to remain open,” McKoy, told the Observer West in MarchYesterday, he pointed out that although the foundation had received a “little assistance here and there for the centre,” the bulk of its operational cost is borne by his construction company.

“Rent, electricity, water, stipend to teachers, educational materials, field trips… cost over $95,000 monthly and this comes mainly from my business,” he said.

He said a fund-raising campaign online under the theme: ‘One, one, cocoa full basket’ and numerous letters sent to several companies and individuals for assistance, have not borne any tangible results. He stressed that parents whose children attended the centre have expressed disappointment at the closure of the facility.

“A lot of parents have told me that they are saddened by the closure of the centre because their homes are not conducive for their children to study and do their homework. They just don’t have the proper systems at home,” McKoy told the Observer West.

Marvette Johnson, a resident of Paradise /Norwood, whose 13-year-old daughter has been going to the centre after school for over a year, said the closure is a big blow to many parents. “It’s a big blow to me, and many other parents.

The centre helped many of the less fortunate in and around Montego Bay,” said Johnson. “My daughter misses it a lot. She used to go down there, and learn Spanish, do her homework after school, get lunch money……. so I really feel it,” she remarked.

She added that it was through the Le Antonio’s Foundation that her daughter, who now attends a prominent Montego Bay High school for girls, was able to get a scholarship, which she claimed assisted her greatly in sending the child to school.

McKoy said he is willing to consider reopening the facility if funds become available, adding that he plans however, to continue the foundation’s annual back-toschool treat, as well as to stage its inaugural youth conference set for November.