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The Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE) programme has partnered with the ULTRA Entertainment Group to launch the Inner City Internship Programme, aimed at providing training, internships and employment in the entertainment industry for some 30 YUTE participants.

The partnership was officially announced at the inaugural Ultra Black Tie Awards in celebration of excellence in events production and promotion, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Friday, February 21.

Alicia Glasgow, Executive Director of YUTE Limited in her address at the awards ceremony, indicated that the pilot project has come at an opportune time as “Jamaica’s creative and entertainment industries are now being targeted as significant growth areas for national development.”

She also noted, that in these very challenging economic times, “it is even more critical to create, develop and support innovative opportunities in non-traditional areas, so as to create employment in line with the demands of the labour market.”

Miss Glasgow commended the ULTRA Entertainment Group for initiating the programme and garnering the support of other entertainment agencies to commit internship placements.

Through the Inner City Internship Programme, participants from some of Kingston’s most impoverished and marginalised communities will receive training in all aspects of event planning, management and promotion and be placed in internship positions with leading events agencies including: Dream Entertainment, Blueprint Consulting, Jukeboxx Productions, Team Solutions, From Thought to Finish, Jahmento, Mad Circle Entertainment, Wright Image, among others.

Dean Shepherd, CEO of BluePrint Consulting and the ULTRA Group, expressed his commitment to supporting the objectives of YUTE, stating, “as young entrepreneurs, we are not only focused on developing successful businesses, but on making a meaningful impact on the broader society. In this regard, using our industry to train and offer employment opportunities is our small part in driving the country forward. We want to encourage young people to think bigger than their reality and to strive for bigger goals,” he concluded.

Since its inception in 2010, as a strategic and collaborative response to address the persistent levels of crime and violence among youth in some of Kingston’s most volatile communities, YUTE, has reached 1616 participants, and has provided more than 2600 training, coaching and/or job placement opportunities and 850 employment opportunities.

Now in its second phase, the YUTE programme is keen on encouraging and supporting creative partnerships like the YUTE/ULTRA Inner City Internship Programme , to provide access to new employment opportunities for its youth beneficiaries.