A donation from the Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) Foundation is helping to provide more affordable accommodation for some marginalised students on the Mona campus of The University of the West Indies (The UWI).

A deteriorated building and pandemic restrictions forced The UWI’s Social Work Training and Research Centre (SWTRC) to cease providing affordable and comfortable on-campus accommodation for students who needed it the most, but through the D&G Foundation-supported One Step Away from Greatness infrastructure programme the centre is set to welcome a new cohort of students for the next academic year.

The UWI SWTRC was one of six winners of $1-million grants in the D&G Foundation’s 6 for 60 competition that promotes community development.

So far, the money has assisted the centre in completing roof repairs, constructing and furnishing a kitchenette, bathroom renovations, and expanding laundry resources, among other upgrades.

“We have a great community of students who need and deserve a pleasant home away from home. After winning the competition we put that money to good use, and the students were extremely grateful for the repairs.

“Though the project is incomplete we have started making their lives much easier in more ways than one. Before this we were more focused on renovating the bathrooms, however, the student community expressed that they needed a kitchenette to prepare their meals. Many thanks to the D&G Foundation for helping us to serve that wish,” said Cerita Buchanan, head of The UWI SWTRC.

For more than 60 years, the SWTRC has provided affordable accommodation for up to 45 students in need who live outside the Corporate Area.

The One Step Away from Greatness programme represents a series of upgrades to the working and living conditions at the centre and includes the construction of additional bathrooms and remodelling of the study room and common area.

“Many students face challenges finding safe, affordable, and convenient housing for several reasons, including the availability of funding, which can affect their access to education. The fact that the centre has solved this problem for over 60 years inspired the D&G Foundation to support their project.

“We applaud Ms Buchanan and her team for their ongoing service to UWI students, and recognise it as a contribution to sustainable development and community building because of the long-term and multigenerational benefits of education,” said D&G Foundation accountant Dennis Beckford.

Six community-based philanthropic organisations were awarded $1 million each this year towards their development initiatives in the Desnoes and Geddes 6 for 60 competition.

The competition was designed to provide critical support to two outstanding community development initiatives, from each county, for projects in the areas of sport, environmental conservation, education, or culture.

The winning initiatives were the Dumfries Moves project in St James and Thornton Community Club project in St Elizabeth from the county of Cornwall; New Horizons Christian Outreach Ministries and Bucknor Homework and Community Centre were the winners in Middlesex; and in Surrey the winners were The UWI’s SWTRC and the Eastwood Gardens Youth for Progress Club.