Staff WriterThe next stop on the Consul General’s ambitious community outreach initiative will be in the Borough of Queens, NY on Friday, March 20, 2009 at Clippers 11 Lounge, 234-36 Merrick Blvd, in the Laurenton township, just off the Belt Parkway.
The scheduled 3 hour ‘meet & greet’ which starts at 7:00 pm., will give Queens’ residents an opportunity to go ‘one on one’ with Mrs. Geneive Brown Metzger, Consul General of Jamaica, in what promises to be an engaging discussion on a range of topics including but not limited to the new passport regime for Jamaicans and Caribbean Americans.
Consul General Brown Metzger who last week marked her one year anniversary on the job without fanfare, will be accompanied at the forum by her senior staffers, “so that as many of the questions as possible can be answered on the spot, right there at the forum,” she said.
The Queens forum follows similar engagements in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY; Hartford, CT; Boston, MA and Minneapolis, MN
In Boston, Mrs. Brown Metzger told Jamaicans there that the new CARICOM Passport, which went into effect in January 2009, is further proof that the regional integration initiative is moving full steam ahead. The new ‘book’ will eventually replace the current Jamaican passport, allowing for hassle free travel throughout the region and those member states that are signatories to the ‘One Caribbean’ initiative.
Jose Richards, President of Sons & Daughters of Jamaica, Inc., a Queens-based not-for-profit, community outfit and host of the meet & greet forum, said that he is hoping that, “the folks will take the time to come out and share their concerns with the CG and to ask questions about what’s going on back home”.
Supporting Mr. Richards on this venture is the Caribbean Business Network, a fledging community enterprise, headed by Neva Alexander. Other strategic partners include; The Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board/NE USA Sector; Union of Jamaican alumni Associations (UJAA) and Jamaica Impact (JAMPACT), Inc.
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