THE MONTHLY GLEANER | AUGUST 3 - SEPTEMBER 2, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 11 Lester Hinds/Gleaner Writer HIGHLY ACCLAIMED Jamaican track coach, Glen Mills, is to be honoured in South Florida by the People Profile Organization – he will be presented with the organisation’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.” Mills will join singer/actress Melba Moore, Miami Heat basketball star Dwayne wade, Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown, among others who are past recipients. The announcement was made by head of People Profile, Dr. Allan Cunningham . At the recent launch of the People Profile Awards, Jamaica-born businessman, Ricky Wade was the guest speaker. He spoke about the need to develop partnership and relationships to achieve success. “During my tenure as a business owner, having these partnerships has been beneficial tomy business inmany ways. Being connected and collaborating with organizations in my community has been extremely beneficial to support the youth and programs that make our communities thrive,” saidWade Her said that it is never too early to start cultivating relationships that can build into partnerships and collaborations. Relationships can significantly impact how people engage with you and support you and your business, he said. Apar t from the Life Time Achievement Award, other awards will be given for community service, outstanding press personality, outstanding business leader, among others. Mills is currently head coach of the Racers Track Club which includes world and Olympic record holder Usain Bolt and the 100-metre World Champion Yohan Blake. Other athletes that he has coached in the past include Kim Collins, and Ray Stewart. He was the head coach of the Jamaican Olympic athletics team between 1987 and 2009. A number of schools in Jamaica benefit from proceeds raised from the award ceremony. Glen Mills to be honoured in South Florida Glen Mills FILE Lester Hinds/Gleaner Writer THE GARVEY School, situated on Baychester Avenue in the Bronx, United States, faces an uncertain future as the landlords for the building where the school is currently located want to reclaim the space. FOUNDED BY Jamaican educator June O’Connor and named after Jamaica’s first national hero, Marcus Garvey, the school currently has an enrolment of 120 students and 20 teachers. A 501 c 3 institution, the school was founded in 2009 and has been at its present location since 2012. The non-public school serves two-year-olds, Pre-K up to Grade 8. The building management, River Bay Management, recently took the school to housing court in the Bronx seeking to get back the building. The parties are to return to court on August 14 and the school’s management has to submit a brief to the court by August 4. O’Connor told The Gleaner that the building management has given no reason for wanting the school out of its current space. “I can only assume that with the current real estate market the management believes that it will get more money for the space,” she said. The Garvey School currently pays a rent of just over US$5,000 per month to rent the space. Since opening its doors in 2009, the Garvey School has served over 7000 students and placed approximately 90 per cent of its graduates comfortably in competitive high schools and independent schools. Riverbay Corporation recently terminated the lease which places the school’s four-year 3K early childhood city contract at risk because it is site specific. “Early childhood service is a very high need for Caribbean, African, African-American and Hispanic families. The loss of this programme will create significant hardship for our families, as well as loss of income for our staff who are all head of household and main bread-winners,” said O’Connor. The school is seeking a one-year extension on its current lease, which will give it time to find suitable accommodation to re-locate the school. She said an extended lease will allow adequate time to relocate the programme in proximity to the current location which will greatly increase the chance of retaining the four-year grant. INTERVENE The community has rallied to the side of the school and Jamaica’s consul general in NewYork, AlsionWilson, has written to the Bronx Borough president, asking that she intervene in the dispute to save the school. The school is built on the principle that every child should experience a stimulating, educational environment to foster emotional, social, and academic growth while engaging in active discovery and inquiry-based learning where every question is a valid entry point to a larger discourse. “We are proud that our track record shows students are admitted to the following schools: Fieldstone, Thornton-Donovan, Hackley, Harvey and Masters. Among our public schools are Brooklyn Technical High School and Bronx Science,” she said Wilson told The Gleaner that the efforts to save the school, whether at its existing location, or at a new location are ongoing. “The school provides a necessary service and should be allowed to continue functioning,”she said. Garvey school in the Bronx faces uncertain future My fellow Jamaicans and friends, IT IS my distinct pleasure to wish you a Happy Independence on behalf of the staff at the Consulate General of Jamaica at Toronto. This, our 61st anniversary of Independence, is being commemorated under the theme ‘Jamaica 61: Proud and Strong’. It follows the extensive celebrations of our diamond jubilee held last year in Canada, Jamaica, and across the globe. The theme further reflects the boldness of our people at home and in the diaspora globally. It also conjures up feelings of national pride, particularly when our fellow Jamaicans climb the success ladder in a multiplicity of areas, in their adopted home country. Here in the province of Ontario, our Jamaican Canadians are highly regarded in their chosen fields. They have been recognised for the pivotal contributions to the growth and development of the Canadian society. For this, we are immensely proud! Of equal importance is the consistent support by scores of individuals, community-based organisations, alumni associations, churches and businesses in the Greater Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara areas, to our education and healthcare sectors. You have shown how impactful your formative years in Jamaica have had on your respective journeys. I therefore place on recordmy sincere appreciation to you, on behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica, for your fervent commitment to building a better Jamaica. It is for this reason that the Government has taken concrete steps to create several avenues for your engagement and involvement in the affairs of our country. I encourage you to support these efforts and to strengthen the familial linkages which exist. Let us carry the torch forward from our founding fathers and take charge of our destiny. Happy Independence! One Love! LINCOLN G. DOWNER Consul General Of Jamaica Canada ‘Jamaica 61: Proud and Strong’ Lincoln Downer CONTRIBUTED
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