NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Officials at the Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre (URC) recently partnered with counterparts from the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development to register 27 people with disabilities in the Fox Hill Community.
The walkabout was spearheaded by Sonia Kemp, center manager, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre, along with Desiree Clarke, deputy secretary of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, and Kendrick Rolle, technical programmes officer, Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services.
The trio was accompanied by Bishop J Carl Rahming, consultant, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Brett Smith, programmes coordinator, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Alys Adderley, team member’ and Sergeant Tito Dawkins, Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), who is assigned to the Fox Hill Centre.
The collaboration is in line with a ministry-wide mandate from Minister of Social Services Frankie Campbell to ensure access and inclusion for the community of people with disabilities. Officials at urban renewal Centers across The Bahamas have begun the process of registering individuals with disabilities during their walkabouts. More than 200 people have already been registered as part of the process.
The Urban Renewal Commission operates 24 centers across New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands, providing the secretariat and the Disability Affairs Division with greater access at the community level.
According to Campbell, the efforts to register people with disabilities is to ensure they are included when funds are being allocated and so that the government may better know who needs assistance and where they are in the event of evacuation during a natural disaster.
Kemp said center officials have been assisting people with disabilities in the community on a regular basis. She said the registration process further strengthened the relationship between the center, residents living with disabilities, the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Disability Affairs Division.
“Our focus is on finding, developing and maintaining the kind of internal and external partnerships that will be beneficial to the communities that we serve,” Kemp said.
“In this instance, it is the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Disability Affairs Division who are our internal partners. But we have also been able to forge partnerships with individual persons and businesses in our communities.
“Our goal is to get a listing of as many persons as we can find that live with disabilities — those already known to us and those whom we will encounter going forward. Our minister had said it is our mandate to go out there and locate and register persons with disabilities because many of them cannot come to us.
“When we visit with these persons, they are so pleased that we have come looking for them and they are even more pleased with the fact that Mrs Clarke and Mr Rolle — who is blind — are a part of the visitation team.
“It’s just another aspect of all of the services that we have been providing and continue to provide to the communities that we serve.”
Loading ...
