The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

THE Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture celebrated the relaunch of the Fresh Start programme in New Providence yesterday.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg along with programme coordinator Shanda Roberts welcomed the new candidates after the programme took a brief hiatus due to the pandemic.

The 16-week programme will have a reduced number of participants due to COVID-19.

Mr Bowleg congratulated the new participants, saying that they had taken a bold step to ensure their own job security and become productive members of society.

“Let me congratulate each and every one of you for taking that opportunity and taking that bold step to understand that in order for you to be a productive citizen in this country that you have to not look behind you. There is a reason the rearview is smaller than the windshield, you have to look forward right?”

When she spoke, Ms Roberts encouraged participants to embrace the opportunity to find new skills to help them succeed in the job market.

“I want to admonish you and encourage all of you to embrace the opportunities that will lie in front of you. Our honourable minister and our PS has dedicated, or they’ve committed to $2,500 to each of you and you will be trained in various skills including beauty trades, culinary and baking, office procedures and web design and, of course, mixology. I want to say even if you try, and you don’t get it the first time, try, and try again. This is your home, and this will be a safe space for you.”

The programme is aimed at helping people who struggled in school get a second chance at training. It is open to people between the ages of 16 to 25 to gain the necessary knowledge and skills that allow them to be employable.

The programme was recently relaunched in Grand Bahama and there are plans to extend it to Abaco and other islands.

Andrew Minus, a graduate of BTVI and one of the participants in Fresh Start, spoke about the opportunity.

“We just intend to make the most of this programme and to maximise our ability to represent The Bahamas as a nation. It’s very hard for these opportunities to come by now these days and once you don’t have that scholarship in place you have to scrape and claw and fight your way through for every opportunity that comes by.

“I was very fortunate to be able to get that scholarship from the time when Dr Minnis was still in office, and as I reiterate, we are maximising all opportunities for growth here and we look for nothing but the best result,” he said.