Union Gardens Foundation Unveils Inner City School Building Plan

Simone Murdock, Group Marketing Executive of Kingston Wharves Limited, and Secretary of the Union Gardens Foundation chats with, from left, Malia Butler, Oteliah Nelson, and Kevynardo Roberts of Evelyn Mitchell Infant School//Centre of Excellence in Clarendon.

On the first day of the 2015 September term, 150 inner city youngsters, aged 3-6 years, will take their first steps on a new adventure in education when they walk into a state-of- the-art facility built in their own community. But that is after they step off the school bus that has been assigned to shuttle them to and from school – all at no cost to their parents. This was the scenario outlined to residents of the South West St. Andrew community of Union Gardens by representatives of the Union Gardens Foundation (UGF), a group of Jamaican businesspersons who have committed themselves to making the Union Gardens infant school a reality.

The community of Union Gardens is bordered by Spanish Town Road to the North, and Marcus Garvey Drive to the South. There are a number of basic schools in Union Gardens and neighbouring communities with varying levels of facilities. However all are under-resourced, many with teachers whose level of training does not meet the requirements of the Ministry of Education, and facilities that do not allow for play and other enrichment activities.

At a recent meeting of community residents, hosted by Member of Parliament the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller, UGF Chairman Glen Christian unveiled an artist’s impression of the 11,000 square foot school. The new school will feature large, airy classrooms, a spacious auditorium, covered walkway-linked buildings with play areas, and landscaped common areas. He announced that construction would begin in March, and said the Foundation was collaborating with the Ministry of Education to ensure that all would be in place to receive the first cohort of students in September.

Mr. Billy Heaven, CEO of the CHASE Fund, Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, Mrs. Lavern Gottshalk, Principal of the Evelyn Mitchell Infant School/Centre of Excellence, and Mrs. Marva Christian, of the Union Gardens Foundation.

Construction of the Union Gardens infant school is projected to cost $120M. With a little over half that sum already committed by various companies, the Foundation is targeting other companies and charitable organizations as co-sponsors. When completed, the school will be turned over to the Ministry of Education.

Members of the Foundation are quick to point out that this is not a pipe dream. The story goes back to 2013, when the management team of Kirk Distributors Limited (KDL), one of the companies owned by Glen Christian, was seeking to identify a meaningful project in one of the communities nearby its offices. In their discussions with representatives of Union Gardens, it emerged that the community was in dire need of a suitable early childhood learning facility.

Having successfully built the award-winning Evelyn Mitchell Infant School/ Centre of Excellence in his home parish of Clarendon, Mr. Christian was confident that the project could be successfully replicated in Union Gardens. He set about selling the idea to others in the business community and soon a small committee of business leaders came together who envisioned, not only an infant school in Union Gardens, but similar schools across Jamaica based on the Evelyn Mitchell model of public-private sector partnerships.

Members of the Union Garden Foundation pose for a photo with Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites(3rd left). Shown, from left, are Glen Christian, Marva Christian, Melanie Subratie, Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, and Simone Murdock.

As a result, in 2014, the Union Gardens Foundation was established to guide the development of the Union Gardens infant school project and similar initiatives. The Foundation is a duly registered charitable organization under the 2013 Charities Act.

The Union Gardens Foundation is guided by a Board of Directors comprised of Glen Christian (Chairman); Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, Chairman, National Baking Company; Melanie Subratie, Vice Chairman of Musson ( Jamaica) Limited; Howard Mitchell, immediate past chairman of the National Housing Trust; and Simone Murdock, Group Marketing Executive of Kingston Wharves Limited. Commitments of cash and kind, to date, have come from Cari-Med & Kirk Distributors Foundation, Tank-Weld Group, National Baking Company Foundation, Seprod Limited, the Sandals Foundation, Kingston Wharves Limited, Stewart Industrial, Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS),Jamaica National Building Society, BH Paints, and the Gleaner Company Limited.

Members of the Union Garden Foundation pose for a photo with Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller. Shown, from left, are Marva Christian, Glen Christian, Gary ‘Butch’ Hendrickson, Melanie Subratie, and Simone Murdock.

Speaking at the community meeting, Minister of Education, the Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites said studies have shown that children who receive a good early childhood education perform better at the primary and secondary school level. In a ringing endorsement of the school-building initiative, the Minister exclaimed, “What if this powerful movement for change could produce another Evelyn Mitchell every year!”
The Union Gardens Foundation is working to make it happen.