BPTT teams with Brown Cotton for Carenage upliftment

A community project with special emphasis on youth development through education has been initiated in Carenage. The initiative—Partnering through Education—is supported by BP Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) and the Brown Cotton Foundation. It centres  on an academic scholarship and personal development programme for approximately 20 secondary school students from the community of Carenage, as well as several others from other parts of north Trinidad. The scholarships run for two years. Launched earlier this year, the programme continued with a motivational workshop for the youths and their parents held at the Flamingo Room, Trinidad Hilton last week. Classes, conducted three times weekly, are run by the Martins Centre of Learning, based at Ana Street, Woodbrook, which is the academic arm of Brown Cotton Foundation. Iris Martin, director of Brown Cotton Foundation and founder/director of Martins Centre for Learning, said a major objective behind the initiative was the start of a “revolution in the Carenage community with youths who can think and act positively and contribute to the constructive development of the community.

 

“This is a special opportunity for both the young people and their parents who live in Carenage to work together to shine a positive light on the community. We are extremely grateful for the timely intervention of BP Trinidad and Tobago and their confidence in Brown Cotton to implement this pioneering initiative,” Martin said. Inspirational speaker Don La Foucade, who was the main facilitator at the workshop, said the most heartening feature of the programme was the ongoing inter-action between the youths and their parents, which made it rare and exceptional. “I lived in Carenage for a while and I am excited by this initiative. This community needs a positive mindset from everyone. What you focus on is what you will do and become. You have been presented with a wonderful opportunity to transform Carenage into a signature community,” he said. “Don’t build walls between you and your children. Build bridges,” he told the parents.