Giving because I always get my blessing

Kathleen Shaw-Gonzales poses with her GOJ ICDP Enterprise Development Grant Project Certificate of Achievement and Award for Community Service in the community of Greenwich Town, at the JSIF Community Awards at the AC Hotel by Marriot, Lady Musgrave Road, St Andrew, on April 6.
April 25, 2023
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The fisherwoman, who owns a boat with the same name as her business place ‘Kasalegna’, has had a long association with the JSIF. It started in 2014 when she was the recipient of a chest freezer (deep freeze), an igloo (cooler) and a weigh scale. By then, two freezers she owned had stopped working and she was without a scale.

“When I got the new one (deep freeze), it helped me to set more ice to sell to fishermen. And I used to have to be borrowing people’s scale. So I don’t have to borrow people’s scale no more,” she declared.

In addition to selling fishing, Shaw-Gonzales also generates income from selling buckets of ice to other fisherfolk. She tries to give back from her earnings but the needs are many, she admits. They range from helping to provide school uniforms, lunch money, school shoes and bags to bus fare for young students.

In addition, she is a member of the Greenwich Town Fishing Beach executive, which administers affairs on behalf of the fishing community.

Giving because I always get my blessing

After more than 20 years operating on the beach, Shaw-Gonzales has seen her fair share of hardships as well as good t

Upgraded Epworth rural feeder road in St Ann officially opened

Prime Minister, Andrew Holness (fourth right), cuts the ribbon to officially open the $109 million Epworth rural feeder road in St Ann on April 21. Looking on are (from left) Epworth CDC member, Edris Taylor; Mayor of St Ann’s Bay, Councillor Sydney Stewart; Councillor/Caretaker, Beecher Town Division, Natalie Wilmot; Vice President of Operations, Caribbean Development Bank, Isaac Solomon; and Managing Director, Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney. They are joined by Epworth Primary School’s Ramardo Davis (fourth left) and Kasari-Ann Pitterson (third right).
April 22, 2023
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The Epworth rural feeder road in St Ann, which was rehabilitated at a cost of $109 million, was officially opened by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday.

Work on the three-kilometre parochial road was spearheaded by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) with financing provided under the Caribbean Development Bank's (CDB) Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF).

Upgraded Epworth Feeder Road in St. Ann Officially Opened

The Epworth rural feeder road in St.

We feel so proud to have believed in them

Senator the hon. Aubyn Hill (left), Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, presents Garth Bowers with the first place award for Entrepreneurship, for his business ‘production plan,’ which he operates in the community of Greenwich Town. Occasion was the Jamaica Social Investment Fund’s Enterprise Development Awards, held at the AC Hotel Kingston, on April 6, 2023.
April 13, 2023
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Mona Sue Ho, senior manager at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), says the agency’s faith in small business people across various sectors from four parishes has been justified many times over, and the entrepreneurs’ success needs to be applauded and highlighted.

Sue Ho, was addressing attendees at the Government of Jamaica’s Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) Enterprise Development award ceremony at the AC Hotel by Marriot in St Andrew on Thursday, April 6.

JSIF gave us a million-dollar step

It was a bittersweet moment as Mona Sue Ho (left), senior manager of social development at the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, embraces Alicia Robb after presenting the entrepreneur with a posthumous award for her and her late spouse, Delano Christie, at the JSIF Integrated Community Development Project II Awards Ceremony on April 6, 2023.
April 13, 2023
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Alecia Robb never imagined that less than seven years after opening a business with her partner, Delano Christie, she would become the sole operator.

The couple operated D’s First Choice Ice-Cream and Pastries in Norwood, St James. Christie and the couple’s nine-month-old daughter were killed in a gun attack last November.

Robb was overcome with emotions last Thursday as the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) honoured Christie, a beneficiary of the Integrated Community Development Project II (ICPD II), with a posthumous award.

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