Seventeen-year-old Dante Saunders, who was considered an at-risk youth, is a testament to how Iris Terri Salmon, through her non-profit organisation Yard Empire, has been helping to set young people like him on a straight path.

Yard (Youth for Arts and Recreational Development) Empire focuses on getting young people to tap into their creative side through music, acting and other activities.

Saunders, who is from the volatile Kingston Central constituency, shared that he dreamed that he would become a student at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where he is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in arts and arts management.

He told the Jamaica Observer that his vision about his possible career path became clearer after he met Salmon and the Yard Empire team.

“Last week I was telling aunty Terri that I never wanted to go to any form of college, or do any form of music or further education after high school. Since I am with Yard Empire and aunty Terri Salmon, I realised my potential. She teaches us certain things which allow us to realise that we have to focus more on ourselves and so forth,” Saunders told the Jamaica Observer.

“I am currently a student at Edna Manley College and what is special about this degree is that it is a field of creativity and being able to build yourself, it allows you to have the knowledge to manage certain things. Aunty Terri has created a foundation for me,” added Saunders.

As he reflected on the time he met Salmon, Saunders said he is very proud of himself and “thankful to aunty Terri”.

“I feel like I am more groomed and focused. When I was going to high school my mind was all over the place. Now, I am in a straight line going forward. I met her about three years ago. Aunty Terri was walking in the community with the Kingston Central police. She saw my mother and my sister, and my sister mentioned it to me.

“They said Terri Salmon was inviting all the boys in the community to learn music to perform at Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) competitions and at events. They said she could teach me about gender-based violence. At the time I was still going to Kingston Technical High School. I wasn’t musically inclined before I met Terri,” Saunders told the Observer.

With Salmon’s guidance, he was accepted by Edna Manley College and received a scholarship from Bob Marley Foundation to help finance his study.

“When I applied to Edna, I didn’t know how it would be funded. I had to make the first step before I thought about the financial aspect of it. I applied for the Bob Marley Scholarship. I prayed, and God sent Terri, so I used my senses and realised that this is God’s work and plan for me and everything worked out in God’s plan.

“The scholarship covers a percentage of my tuition. I am grateful to the Bob Marley Foundation and aunty Terri who inspired me and taught me how to go about certain things. I get a lot of inspiration from Terri, so I would like to do something similar to what she is doing because I am in a position where I see what is happening with boys and girls,” added Saunders.

Meanwhile, Salmon told the Observer that the Lord has been good to Yard Empire and described her organisation as a ministry from God.

“Yard Empire, we are a charitable organisation and we empower in particular, our youth at risk and males at risk whether they are from uptown and downtown. I realise that society seems to think that at-risk persons are only downtown and that is not so. We cater to at-risk youth everywhere.

“My boys and my youth have been learning to play instruments, being trained in gender-based violence and how it affects the home and them. We empower their minds with the hope that they will be the change in their home and break generational curse that probably exists in the family,” she said, expressing joy at the progress made by Saunders.

According to Salmon, this is not the first time a youth associated with Yard Empire has gone to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in arts management.

“This year we have the second boy, Dante Saunders. I also have another boy who is at Alpha doing well. He has started to do music and he is doing well with the drums there. These boys, I have taken them to the JCDC for the last two to three years and they have won gold medals and trophies at the national level. God has been very, very present in our life.

“Yard Empire, we don’t really have the money. We are just doing the Lord’s work. It is a blessing to get help. The PATH (Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education) has been helping both boys. I must say that the Member of Parliament [for Kingston Central] Donovan Williams has been helping both of them. God has been good. Dante can go and work as an entertainment manager at the hotels. You can go and work at JCDC and in the ministry. He can manage artistes as well. He can help to manage community centres being built in the community he is living in,” Salmon said.

Yard Empire founder Terri Salmon with three of the boys who benefit from the organisation: Dante Saunders (second left), Richard Thomas (centre), and Kevon Bailey.