A Training Centre was completed in 2019 thanks to generous international sponsors. It includes several classrooms and a large auditorium suitable for producing plays and conducting community gatherings.
A skills training center was always in the dream for the Holy Spirit Foundation Community Center. From the very beginning it was observed that adults especially needed a building and opportunities to learn new skills in order to find a place in the workforce as well as to learn marketable and useful skills to participate in the community at large. Many of them had not had the opportunity for formal schooling as children and thus were ineligible for existing government supported programs which required literacy levels they were unable to meet.
Our early focus began by working to get the children in school with the goal of preventing another generation with this same difficulty. This involved active fundraising and encouraging all the government programs available for children. We initiated several other programs along the way, but we always recognized the gap in opportunity for this group of people who had not had the opportunity to get an education as children which could prepare them for work and community involvement. Over the years we noticed they were being more and more left out; unable to participate in building up the community alongside the younger generation. Their obstacles and difficulties were many and diverse, but the result was similar; isolation, continued poverty and loss of self-worth.
The initial drawings of our conceived Community Center, which included a skills training center were done nearly twelve years ago. In February 2018, an international foundation provided a positive review of our intended training center plan and dedicated €200,000.00 toward the project.
The first few months of 2018 were spent updating our drawings and plans and getting the necessary local and governmental approvals for building. We selected our contractor for the project because he submitted the best budget and we have worked with him on other projects and were aware of his craftsmanship and work ethic.
On July 4, 2018 we had a blessing of the construction site and building began. In December 2018, the foundation graciously donated another €30,000, which allowed for final completion in January 2019. On January 30, 2019 we held an opening ceremony attended by representatives of government, local leaders, local police, community members, four Bishops of the Catholic Church and friends of the Holy Spirit Foundation.
Now, in the heart of Jamaica, there are people from young adulthood to late middle age, who can receive their second chance to rebuild their hope–even if they had a break in their education during their youth. They can now join side by side with the younger generation to build a more positive future.