Community Involvement

What does it take to get the community involved in developing our future leaders of tomorrow? Do we have appropriate community centers, after school programs, summer camps, and other extracurricular activities to keep our youth involved and stimulate continual education? Without a strong community involvement, what will happen with our future leaders of tomorrow? Will they be ready to deal with the issues of tomorrow, or will they not know about strong morals and values? As business leaders throughout the Caribbean, what is our responsibility to our youth?

While looking through the community programs for the youth in the United States Virgin Islands, I also noticed the lack of solid public education. Most of this was noted through the lack of proper funding throughout the islands. What will it take to correctly educate our children? Looking at many of the public education systems currently in the United States, funding in general is on the decline while the cost of operating the systems are rising. In Los Angeles, California, the public school system is currently in the process of laying off 9,000 employees including teachers and support workers throughout all schools within the system.

Why are we deficient of fundamental programs for after school services? While I was growing up, we had band, sports, scouting, hunting, fishing, exploring, and many other activities to keep our minds occupied. This occupation allowed for us to develop not only great leadership and social skills but also academically. Looking back at the camping trips, boating trips, parades, football, baseball, soccer, and basketball games I wonder where I would be today if it was not for my parents, school, and coaches that helped me to become who I am today.

If a business invests today in the youth of tomorrow, the business will not only build community involvement, but also build a solid foundation for future employees. Currently, the economics of the Caribbean and most other areas of the world have a high pool of labor, but what happens when the economy rebounds and the labor pool dries up? If we as the businesses of the community invest in our youth, we will have a large pool to choose from.

When bringing in new talent to our work forces, many future employees ask some of the simple questions. Without the right answers, the Caribbean could lose out on gifted talent that could help further the Caribbean as a whole. These important questions include: what are the public schools like? What is there for the kids to do? What extracurricular programs do you offer? What type of family life do you offer in the islands? Currently, with the proper government and business cooperation, the answers to these and many other questions will be negative and result in the lack of recruiting and retaining talented talent to work for our corporations and government alike.

“What can businesses do to assist in developing programs for our youth?” many ask. Businesses can sponsor the local sporting teams, Boy and Girl Scouts, Exploring, and tutoring clubs within their community. This involvement is not always financial, but involves providing volunteer time, meeting space, tools, motivational speaking, hands on training, and other cost-free ideas. This will not only be a positive movement for the youth of the Caribbean, but also produce a positive spotlight on the business providing the community involvement. Get involved today and help a youth succeed in their goals and ambitions. It is good for the Caribbean and Business.

(Dustin P. Prudhomme is a contributor to Island Vibes Magazine and writes about Caribbean culture, business, sports, and entertainment. For comments, please feel free to contact him at dustin@islandvibesmag.com.)