KINGSTON, Jamaica— Thirty residents of May Pen, Clarendon have completed their job readiness training and are expected to be placed into jobs shortly under Project STAR’s Employment Programme.

The residents benefitting from this programme hail from Havana Heights, Race Track and Treadlight in the parish, and represent the first May Pen cohort to be trained.

According to Kalamdo Wilmoth, Project STAR’s donor and external relations lead, Project STAR has targeted to train 20 per cent of the workforce population in certain communities over the five-year life of the project.

Alicea Burke, one of the graduates of the programme commended the training, saying it has helped her tremendously.

“Starting out on the programme I had doubts. I thought it was another employment agency that I signed up for. But then, after I started, I realised that it was nothing that I had initially thought… the training was all about the trainees and bettering us. It has changed my mindset. I am overwhelmed. It has helped me a lot and I’m grateful,” she said.

The 29-year-old mother of one said she has since secured an interview and is hopeful that she will soon land a job. She has encouraged other people in the community to get involved.

“If there is another training, go ahead and be a part of it. I was selected as the valedictorian, and I did a survey of all of the trainees [to inform my speech] and everyone had the same response. They were very thankful and appreciative of the opportunity that we all got from Project STAR,” she said.

Jermaine Jackson, another graduate of the programme, says he is happy he participated and has since been placed in a job.

“Before the training, I was working in construction, but that was seasonal, I have been given the opportunity to earn a monthly income so I can better take care of my family,” he said, adding that the road to success is never a straight one; there will be challenges, but people need to work around them.

The employment programme will move to Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland to train another cohort, Wilmoth said. So far, 32 residents have been trained in job readiness in partnership with HEART/NSTA Trust in Savanna-la-Mar.

“We continue to work with companies and organisations to provide opportunities for the residents in our programme to get interviewed and be employed,” he said.

Wilmoth added that the programme has so far been successful, with Project STAR engaging more than 304 residents in east downtown Kingston. Almost 50 residents were trained in collaboration with Rise Life Management and HEART/NSTA.

The programme has a 96 per cent completion rate in east downtown Kingston, with 71 per cent of the cohort retaining jobs, Wilmoth disclosed.

He added that Project STAR has plans of rolling out an updated employment programme in 2024.

“In response to evolving employment needs, we restructured and strengthened our programme from the way we started initially. Having started with May Pen, we will continue to roll out the programme across communities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wilmoth noted that Project STAR’s entrepreneurship programme will be expanded into May Pen and Savanna-la-Mar.

“We are going to be activating our economic working group to accelerate objectives in the economic pillars and strengthen the entrepreneurship initiative. The working group pulls together a number of minds and strategists who are able to help us design solutions to create deeper engagement with communities and entrepreneurs,” he said.