The United States Government is continuing efforts to reduce youth involvement in crime and violence in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean while creating alternative pathways for at-risk youth and those in conflict with the law.

A new United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported $64 million Youth Empowerment Services (YES) project was launched on November 15 in St. Kitts and Nevis at the Ocean Terrace Inn. The launch, the first in a series planned to kick-off the regional initiative, had participation from high-level representatives of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, the U.S. Government, other NGO partners and three implementing agencies: the OECS Commission, the United Nations Development Program, and Creative Associates International, a United States-based development firm.

The YES project is based on the public health model for crime prevention, which identifies and targets risk and resilience factors facing crime-affected communities, at-risk youth, and youth in the juvenile justice system. It emphasizes community involvement at all levels – matching services to needs; ensuring continuity of care; and institutionalizing data collection, analysis, and use for policy, programming, and evaluation. The project targets the 10 countries included in USAID’s Eastern and Southern Caribbean coverage area — Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago — with a focus on St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Guyana.

In addressing the launch, USAID Mission Director for the Eastern and Southern Caribbean Christopher Cushing stated: “YES is a critical part of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, the partnership between the U.S. Government and CARICOM countries to address our common security concerns. YES supports prevention efforts against youth crime and violence and helps youth to achieve their full potential and assume positive roles within their communities. The impact of USAID’s past work with at-risk youth is encouraging and we are pleased to continue to build on years of mutual cooperation between the United States Government and the Governments and people of the Eastern and Southern Caribbean.”

The St. Kitts and Nevis launch is the first of three to be held this month. Similar events are planned in St. Lucia on Thursday, November 17, and in Guyana on Tuesday, November 29.

The YES project is being implemented through three mechanisms: the US$14 million CARISECURE (Strengthened Evidence-Based Decision-Making) initiative that seeks to improve youth crime and violence policy-making and programming through the use of quality, comparable, and reliable national citizen security information; the US$ 38 million Community, Family, and Youth Resilience (CFYR) initiative that will support focused interventions in 15 communities across the three target countries (St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and Guyana) to create alternative pathways away from crime for youth aged 10-29; and the US$6.4 million JJRP II initiative which will introduce and implement various reform measures to modernize systems of youth justice in the region.

As part of a larger goal of creating a safer, more prosperous Caribbean community, the YES Project will emphasize broader and deeper community engagement and positive youth development, while supporting a continuum of services to respond to a variety of social development needs to benefit communities, Caribbean countries, and ultimately the region as a whole.