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Last Updated: Mar 25, 2021 - 4:08:28 PM |
Members of the walk-a-bout team paused for a photograph prior to hitting the streets of Fox Hill ahead of the Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre’s regular walk-a-bout. Centre officials were joined by colleagues 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. Pictured (from left front row) are: Ms. Alys Adderley (Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre); Mrs. Sonia Kemp (Centre Manager) and Mrs. Desiree Clarke, Deputy Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities). Pictured back row (from left) are: Bishop J. Carl Rahming, Consultant, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Mr. Brett Smith, Programmes Coordinator, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Sergeant 2530 Tito Dawkins, Royal Bahamas Police Force, attached to Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre and Mr. Kendrick Rolle, Technical Programmes Officer, Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social
Services. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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Nassau, The Bahamas – Officials at the Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre 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 persons with disabilities in the Fox Hill Community.
The Walk-a-Bout was spearheaded by Mrs. Sonia Kemp, Centre Manager, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre, along with Mrs. Desiree Clarke, Deputy Secretary of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and Mr. Kendrick Rolle, Technical Programmes Officer, Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services.
Mr. Kendrick Rolle (front left), Technical Programmes Officer, Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services, and Mrs. Desiree Clarke, Deputy Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (also in foreground), were among the team members accompanying their colleagues from the Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre on their regular and most recent Walk-a-Bout of the Fox Hill Community. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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The trio was accompanied by Bishop J. Carl Rahming, Consultant, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Mr. Brett Smith, Programmes Coordinator, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre; Mrs. Alys Adderley, team member and Sergeant Tito Dawkins, Royal Bahamas Police Force, who is assigned to the Fox Hill Centre.
The collaboration is in line with a ministry-wide mandate from Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell, to ensure access and inclusion for the community of persons with disabilities. Officials at Urban Renewal Centres across The Bahamas have begun the process of registering persons with disabilities during their walk-a-bouts. More than 200 persons have already been registered as part of the process.
***image3***The Urban Renewal Commission operates 24 centres across New Providence, Grand Bahama and the Family Islands – providing the Secretariat and the Disability Affairs Division with greater access at the community level.
Minister Campbell said he will continue to take a “one Ministry approach” with the various Departments, Divisions and Units that fall under the remit of his ministry, to effectively engage persons across the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
“We are making a special effort to register persons with disabilities because we want to ensure that as we put in place policies, that as we allocate funds, persons with disabilities are counted in the number, and that adequate funds are made available to ensure inclusion,” Minister Campbell recently told Parliament during his Contribution to the Mid-Term Budget (March 9, 2021).
Team members compare notes at the conclusion of a Home Visit during the Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre’s most recent Walk-a-Bout of the Fox Hill Community. Pictured (from left) are: Mr. Kendrick Rolle, Technical Programmes Officer, Disability Affairs Division, Department of Social Services; Mrs. Desiree Clarke, Deputy Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities; Mrs. Sonia Kemp, Centre Manager, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre, and Mr. Brett Smith, Programmes Coordinator, Fox Hill Urban Renewal
Centre. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura).
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“But we won’t be able to accomplish that objective if we do not know how many persons are living with disabilities in our communities. We want to ensure that if there is a natural disaster pending, and there is a need for evacuation, we know who is where and who needs assistance in being evacuated (and) so we have partnered with the Urban Renewal Commission as they do their walk-a-bouts, to have persons from the Secretariat join them as we continue the process of registering persons with disabilities.
“I am pleased to say that in the period in question, we have registered approximately 200 persons with disabilities increasing our database,” Minister Campbell added.
Mrs. Kemp said Centre officials have been assisting persons with disabilities in the community on a regular basis. She said the registration process further strengthened the relationship between the Centre, residents living with disabilities, the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and the Disability Affairs Division.
Mrs. Desiree Clarke, Deputy Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (left) presents Mrs. Sonia Kemp, Centre Manager, Fox Hill Urban Renewal Centre, with one of several gift items donated by the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities and its Secretariat to assist persons with disabilities in the Fox Hill Community at the conclusion of the recent Walk-a-Bout. (BIS Photo/Matt Maura)
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“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,” Mrs. 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,” Mrs. Kemp added.
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