Eastern Division police have been more active than Santa's Little Helpers on Red Bull during this Christmas. They've turned policing into philanthropy, making Christmas special for families across the district. But today Eastern Division Southside did a little more than just gift - giving. They launched a pilot programme called the Youth Mentorship Program - and they did it in style, hosting 100 children for Christmas lunch at the Radisson. Southside Commander Chester Williams explained the ambitious initiative:...
ACP. Chester Williams - Commander Southside
"The police youth membership club is an initiative that is geared towards breaking the gang cycle. the time that we will be spending with them, we want to do different topic areas that will be geared towards making them better while at the same time let them learn to put aside their personal differences because as young as they are there are serious beefs in that room as you see right now and we want to help them to overcome those issues and what is unique about the program is that it is not police officers who'll be mentoring them we have people who are volunteering their time on weekends to come in and deal with different aspect of the mentorship program. what we did was that we look at children who are at risk, we look at children who are in school and demonstrating that propensity for bullying or being bullied and in terms of the females, we also look at those who at risk of teenage pregnancy. Because what we want to do is to see how we can change the mind set of these children. When we look at the street rivalries, it passed down from generation to generation and the only way we can break this cycle is to be able to see how we can capture the younger generation now. So that when they reach that age, 15, 16, 17, they will not be out there lurking and trying to shoot other young people with whom they have rivalries."
Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"What are some of those subject topics that you will be focusing on especially dealing with the age group?"
ACP. Chester Williams - Commander Southside
"Like I said earlier conflict resolution, anger management, spirituality, civic pride. Those are the main areas. today for the launch, we host the children at the Radisson Fort George for a luncheon and again to see them here and them being here is a boost to them because when you hear about Cahal Pech room, Radisson, its big time people so the fact that they can sit in the same room like people as the prime minister and that one can sit, that itself is an up liftmen to them."
Each child left the event with more than just a bellyful, they also got a gift. Lunch was made possible by the generous donation of the Radisson. The program has 25 mentors and police are still FUNDRAISING.
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