NEW YORK, USA — Ahead of the start of the next school term some Jamaican organisations here have begun to ramp up their efforts to assist schools across the island with their education programmes while others are focusing their charity projects on health care services.

Two such entities, the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council for the Northeast United States (US) and the Jamaica Ex-Servicemen and Women Foundation, have combined to secure more than $9 million to support students in 18 schools with computers, uniforms, footwear and other supplies.

“An estimated 3,000 students and staff are to benefit from the initiative,” said Stanford Grant who heads the Jamaica Ex-Servicemen and Women Foundation. He said that schools which will benefit from the donations are located in the parishes of St Catherine, Kingston and St Andrew, Westmoreland, among others.

Michelle Tulloch-Neil, the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council representative for the north-east US, added that the institutions that will benefit from the initiative range from basic schools to primary and infant, as well as high schools.

Michelle Tulloch-Neil

She said that representatives from both organisations will be in Jamaica to distribute the items, set to take place at the Jamaica Legion on South Avenue, Swallowfield, in Kingston. In addition to the supplies Tulloch-Neil said, “some students who are facing financial challenges, as well as others who have done well but need further assistance, are to benefit from a US$300 donation each.

She said that, “due to financial constraints the amount has been reduced from the US$500 we usually offer”.

Grant’s Jamaica Ex-Servicemen and Women Foundation — which will be donating computers to the Port Henderson Primary school in St Catherine; Operation Friendship; and the The Scout Association of Jamaica’s headquarters in Kingston — said, “there are also plans, already underway, to establish a learning centre in August Town, St Andrew, using an existing building.

“We intend to use the facility to teach students how to develop a comprehensive coding system — the foundation of software and digital systems which allows for the writing of instructions that a computer can understand and follow to perform specific tasks,” Grant told the Jamaica Observer.

Other organisations and individuals are also in the advance stages of plans to provide assistance, especially in the area of health care, while some have already provided support. Elder Benjamin Powell of the North Bronx Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York said he and the church are working with the Good Samaritan Inn in downtown Kingston — which is primarily engaged in providing services for homeless people — to improve and increase the quality of the services provided by the centre.

He said a team of between 20 and 30, inclusive of doctors and nurses, is being assembled for a two-day trip on July 15 and 16, 2025 to work with the Good Samaritan Inn. Powell added that non-perishable food items, medical supplies and clothes will be provided.

And Help Jamaica Medical Mission — a New Jersey-based non-profit which has provided quality health care for underserved Jamaicans — is taking steps to improve and increase its services this year, according to co-founder Dr Robert Clarke.

More than 500,000 Jamaicans have benefited from the annual missions since Dr Clarke and Dr Rudolph Willis co-founded the organisation in 2010. Over the years, the missions have provided screening for various medical conditions, provide medication, and undertaken life-altering treatment.

In Connecticut, retired social worker Primrose Hanchard-Taylor of the Hanchard Family Foundation said the health care service started by the foundation last year is to be extended at this year’s annual Hanchard family reunion set for August 2 in Mt Regale St Mary.

She said that as was the case last year, screening for conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and medical and dental care are to be the main focus. The New York Police Department (NYPD) Jamaican-American Law Enforcement Organisation said it raised $1.2 million which it used last month to offset the cost for 60 grade 12 students at Marcus Garvey Technical High school in St Ann, “to ensure they have the financial support to help them through to their graduation”.

In New York, meanwhile, the Ex-Correctional Officers Association of Jamaica said it is hoping to raise enough funds at its annual banquet so that it will be in a position to increase the number of scholarships it offers annually. Three scholarships are to be awarded at the banquet.