The Social Formation Program for out of school youths has gone through a transformation and re-emerged as the St. Maarten Youth Development Program. On April 2nd 2009, USONA approved the project proposal for the pilot phase of the implementation of the Youth Development Program of St. Maarten. The program has been added to the “Onderwijs & Jongeren Programma” that is managed by the Department of Educational Research, Policy and Innovations (DERPI) of Island Government.
Under the new slogan “Your second chance to a more promising tomorrow”, the program will be targeting young persons between the ages of 16 and 24 years who have left secondary school without a diploma, to obtain the start qualification they need to enter the job market. Additionally, with the Youth Development Program working closely with Advanced Secondary Vocational Education (also known as SBO or ASVE), it will provide these young persons with the opportunity to stream from the Youth Development Program into ASVE.
The new project coordinator, Janelle Presentacion, has been given the task of setting up the program. “As a young St. Maartener, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to coordinate a program of this calibre that will not only help young people in our society but plays an integral part in poverty alleviation in St. Maarten,” said Presentacion.
Registration is open from August 3rd until September 4th, 2009. Persons interested in registering can do so at the Youth Development Program and ASVE office upstairs Carl and Son’s Bakery on the Pondfill. The office is open Monday thru Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. All you need to register is a copy of your I.D. For more information, you can contact coordinator Janelle Presentacion at 543-0497.
We are urging persons in the community, especially parents, to play an important part in our registration drive by encouraging young persons who have not completed secondary education to visit our office and discuss with us how this program can be beneficial to them. Just by doing this little gesture, we can already begin to affect change in our community” coordinator Janelle Presentacion concluded.