Trench Town may be well known for its significance to reggae music and as the inspiration for some of reggae icon Bob Marley’ songs, but the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) is looking at ways to maximise the untapped potential of the area.

Through the staging of “Visioning Conversations” at the Trench Town Multi-purpose centre in Kingston yesterday, JSIF and stakeholders from entities such as the National Baking Company, Jamaica Public Service, Cari-Med Limited, and Jamaica National Bank came together to discuss, with community leaders, the path forward for Trench Town.“The initiative is really driven around our work in the communities from downtown Kingston, as far as Three Miles, we are heavily involved in a lot of community renewal programmes, urban redevelopment, and Trench Town is an obvious asset — not just for this community but you could say the entire Jamaica,” JSIF’s Managing Director Omar Sweeney told the

Jamaica Observer.He noted that the organisation has been working within the community for the past 10 years, highlighting that the multi-purpose centre was one of many initiatives undertaken by the fund, from First to Fifth streets, within the community over the years.Sweeney stated that they have realised that the community has not maximised their potential as there are still great opportunities that exist. But, while early on in the meeting many were quick to criticise and express their disappointment about the few people from the community who turned out, Sweeney clarified that it was deliberate as they only wanted to, at this point, meet with community leaders.“We are really about a meeting that is not necessarily targeting the man in the street… the comment was made about that, but it’s not targeting the man in the street, it is targeting the leaders and the influencers because there are a number of community-based NGO’s (non-governmental organisations) that are carrying out community development with good intention and interest,” Sweeney stated.“That’s no problem, but some of the times the misalignment can allow things not to move in a way that we all want it to move. So today is all about bringing those persons together, so we targeted roughly 56 influencers, not just within the community, but persons who work outside the community that have a hold here to really have them articulate their vision, their perspective of the assets that exist,” he continued.The managing director explained that the private sector entities that were present were those on a “trajectory of major investment”, in the downtown Kingston area, while also highlighting that it is important to focus on the communities that are on the community’s periphery.“It was announced by Minister (Daryl) Vaz last week that JSIF is coordinating an overall downtown development programme and that coordination includes the integration of our own programmes at JSIF to private investment and really being able to represent what the Government should do in facilitating this investment, so this is a part of consultation perspective gathering,” Sweeney stated.He explained that he would not refer to the current initiative as a project as projects have finite timelines and a set of deliverables that must come. Sweeney said that what they want to focus on is the outcomes and maximising the positive assets of Trench Town, such as their human capital.Sweeney stated that the timeline for work was now, and that there will be a series of activities that they hope to undertake moving forward.“But one of the tremendous things that has to be said, it was reported that Airbnb (an online marketplace and hospitality service) listed Trench Town as their number one destination in terms of demand. Now, we live in a space right now where you no longer can stop a tourist from putting on his/her backpack going on the plane, landing at Norman Manley (International) Airport and taking a taxi to Trench Town — you no longer can say it is not safe or its not maintained or it is not developed,” Sweeney said.He explained that due to the Internet, people have the information they need and so will do what they want, and so once someone is willing to host and lists their property on these online platforms, such as in the case of Trench Town, people have an avenue to come to the community.“So that’s one of the enlightenments we are trying to bring forward today, when you have this sort of asset of attraction, people are going to come to you no matter what and they want persons to come to the community, so what we are trying to do is bring the layers that will allow them to really move the core assets to that realisation,” Sweeney said.