At the beginning of 2014, YUTE embarked on a dynamic Growth Phase with a new governance and leadership structure: a new Board of Directors and management team and an exciting new Strategic Direction. This featured the adoption of YUTE by the ICD Group and its housing in the Group’s corporate headquarters, with continued support from private and public sectors and international partners.
Under the dedicated leadership of ICD Chairman and Past PSOJ President Joseph M. Matalon, the new YUTE Directors and team members set about honing and enhancing existing YUTE programmes while developing and delivering a unique blend of innovative new programmes. The focus was on providing training, internship and job opportunities in traditional and non-traditional industries and facilitating creative self-employment opportunities instead of the former inclusion of entrepreneurship formats. This included exciting new forays into the burgeoning Jamaican film and multi-media sector, a pilot project focusing on the international multi-tasking industry, innovative expansion of our YUTE Build Programme, and several special projects and meaningful new global partnerships.
Between 2014 and 2019, hundreds of young Jamaican men and women residing in more than 33 marginalised communities in Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine and St. James benefitted from YUTE Phase II initiatives. Among them, they received skills, life, and employability training and benefited from remedial education. Some gained permanent employment after paid internships were arranged for them. The retention rate among participants rose from an average of 64% in Phase I to an average of more than 90% in Phase II (2014-2019).
