Another program that’s been long delayed is the plan to employ CYDP youths in the paving of 19 miles of streets within Belize City. Prime Minister announced the program as far back as January, but since then it’s been a succession of delays and the program has been tangled in a bureaucratic web. It’s more than just street paving because the program plans to hire 60 members of CYDP project which will give an income generating alternative to at risk youths. Well, the news tonight is that finally the program is starting; 60 CYDP youths will begin working on Euphrates and Amara Avenues tomorrow. We caught up with them in the final stage of preparation for the first day on the job.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
53 males and 7 females associated with the CYDP program were assembling wheelbarrows and street sweeper brooms which will be in use by tomorrow.
Edward Broaster, CYDP Director
“They’re assembling the equipment that we have acquired for them to use on the project and we will start on the south side of Belize City with streets like Euphrates Avenue, Amara Avenue cleaning out the drains and there are those drains on some of the streets that are not paved where they will have to clear them out and dig them out and prepare them for construction of drains and so forth.”
But Broaster explains it’s more than just a job.
Edward Broaster,
“This is very very important for them because some of these young persons, some of them really want to work and they’ve been looking for work. There are some aspects of it that we believe are factors that prevent them from working, including the fact that some of them don’t want to work for a certain income level and we believe that with this program it will also present the opportunity for them to become apprentice in the area of construction and other fields. So when they leave from here, this is not just a basic job – this has to do with a whole cadre of training and developing young persons to be employable.”
The youths who are in the program will also be taken on field trips to show them that Belize is more than just Belize City. Close to Half a million dollars has been earmarked for the CDYP component of the 5 million dollar project.
