Impacting Jamaica

Businessman Bobby Clarke is promising to transform content delivery to Jamaicans living at home and abroad. He plans too, to incorporate the wider Caribbean in his broader vision. Clarke, head of the Caribbean Global Network Group, is getting ready to launch The Bridge 99 FM in Jamaica. The station, under the umbrella of the New York-based IRIE Jam Radio, will, as of July, serve both Jamaicans at home and those in the New York tri-state area.“We are excited to introduce The Bridge 99 FM to Jamaica and global audiences,” said Clarke. “By taking advantage of the vast listenership that IRIE Jam has in the tri-state area, we have created the perfect conduit for information sharing between Jamaica and its extensive diaspora of over two million people.”The network will provide community news, information, entertainment and lifestyle coverage to people everywhere. Impacting Jamaica Host Shelly-Ann Harris sits with Clarke to discuss his transformational plans for Jamaica and the diaspora.

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Members of the St Andrew Technical High School Alumni have all the right reasons to be celebrating as the school emerges from the pandemic standing tall. It has been voted the Most COVID-19 Ready among Corporate Area institutions of secondary learning, thanks in part to the ongoing generosity of its membership in such areas as scholarships, care packages, e-learning devices, personal protective equipment and medical supplies.In celebration of the school’s sixtieth anniversary, the alumni is working on the purchase of a school bus and a solar system for the campus, messages you will hear from President Melanie Forrest and VP Horace Campbell. They spoke with Impacting Jamaica Host Aubrey Campbell.

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Leonia McKoy is a ceramic artist. She is in awe of the sea and with each wave that crashes to the seashore, she is inspired to get her hands in clay; to mould, and shape pieces that depict lines, shapes, movements, and event those tiny bubbles that linger on the sand.

She has been a full-time ceramic artist many years, and no two pieces are alike, as her versatility of clay has afforded her the ability to be creative in endless ways.

McKoy, who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the Jamaica Culture Development Commission Fine Arts Competition, chats with Impacting Jamaica Host Keisha Hill about her work. Her pieces are suitable for home and office spaces.

Formed in 1986, the St. Hugh’s High School Alumnae Association – New York Chapter – is one of the charter members of the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations (UJAA), USA, Inc. Without much hype, the association has forged a big sister relationship with the school, in many key areas, including mentorship, scholarship and upkeep of the physical plant.Using an adversity as an opportunity, past students have forged a global alumnae network to boost its fundraising efforts and a five-year plan to assist the school in its shift to e-learning.“We did not drop out, so we don’t want them to drop out,” in the words of Claudette Powell, vice president and chair of the Health Sector of the Jamaica Diaspora/USA North East.

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Now in its 20th year, the Jamaica National Small Business Loans (JNSBL) has been redefining access to affordable funding for micro and small businesses with its flexible and holistic approach. Gillian Hyde, its general manager, speaks about the JN Group subsidiary’s employment of flexible terms and requirements to access loans as low as $20,000, as well as its aim of assessing the overall needs of micro and small businesses. Ms. Hyde speaks with Impacting Jamaica Host John Myers in this the final of a two-part interview. Part one was posted on May 30, 2021.

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Monsignor Richard Albert, perhaps the most famous philanthropist to ever grace the island of Jamaica, left a legacy called the St. Patrick’s Foundation. The foundation is a Godsend for many of the nation’s most vulnerable.

It’s Chairman, Hermine Metcalfe, explains to impactingjamaica.com host, Shelly-Ann Harris, the nature of the aid the organisation provides.

A registered charity, the foundation depends on donations to run early childhood education programmes in Riverton, carry out training for young persons looking for a way to sustain themselves, as well as providing a home for the abandoned elderly, those who have nobody to care for them.

Now in its 20th year of operation, Jamaica National Small Business Loans (JNSBL) has been redefining access to affordable funding for micro and small businesses with its flexible and holistic approach.Gillian Hyde, general manager of JNSBL, speaks about the JN Group subsidiary’s employment of flexible terms and non-traditional requirements to access loans as low as $20,000, while adopting a holistic approach in catering to the overall needs of micro and small businesses, such as cash-flow management, record keeping and insurance. Hyde stresses that the needs of micro and small businesses are much more than just financial and, as a result, JNSBL has become more than just a creditor.She also outlines the financier’s intent to explore the possibility of providing more funding support for untapped and emerging sectors, such as the fledgling medical ganja industry.

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Desmond Palmer could only manage a bronze medal during inter-house long jump at school. That never stopped him from falling in love with athletics but there was another problem.Desmond believed there wasn’t enough written history on the athletic achievements of Jamaicans outside of the famous names of recent history.The names Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Merlene Ottey, Melanie Walker, cast massive shadows. Those shadows often forces the names of those who came before, into veritable ignominy, their achievements forgotten. Desmond wants us to remember. His book, ‘4Runners’, helps us do just that.

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Professor Brendan Bain is a multifaceted Caribbean man who has brought honour and prestige to the region as a physician and academic. Professor Bain has been outstanding in all three areas in which the University of the West Indies requires its faculty to perform – teaching, research and publications; and service to community. Well-respected and admired, Professor Bain was the inaugural lead coordinator of the UWI HIV/AIDS Response Programme and Director of the Regional Coordinating Unit, Caribbean HIV/AIDS regional Training (CHART). In his conversation with Impacting Jamaica host Shelly-Ann Harris, he insightfully points out that when the first cases of HIV had appeared in Jamaica, people didn't believe the virus was real, a behaviour which also initially rang true today as the country and the world presently grapple with COVID-19. Hear more in this interesting edition of Impacting Jamaica.

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Rhona Dunwell, the President of the Alliance of Jamaican Alumni Associations (AJAA) in Toronto, Canada, is leading a group that is doing outstanding work for education. For 33 years, the Alliance has been the umbrella organization for many Jamaicans living in the Greater Toronto Area who are supporting their alma maters in Jamaica. Since 1988, the Alliance has initiated several projects and programmes to support students of Jamaican heritage in Canada and students represented by its high school member associations in Jamaica. Its Graduates Programme introduced in 1993 recognizes the scholastic achievements of Ontario graduating high school students of Jamaican descent. The Emerging Global Leaders Jamaica identifies and trains young people in Jamaica who have the potential of becoming instigators of change. Rhona Dunwell, president of the AJAA, talks about the organization with Impacting Jamaica’s Neil Armstrong.

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