On Tuesday, May 24, the community of Gonzales held a Stakeholders' Meeting at the St Martin de Porres Church, Gonzales, Belmont.

The idea was to bring all the organisations with initiatives and projects taking place in the area together to discuss and coordinate their efforts to the benefit of all parties.

Fr Jason Gordon chaired the meeting while a team of Canadian delegates of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the Canadian International Development Agency facilitated the coordinating process.

Present were Minister of Health John Rahael, Murchinson Brown, Mayor of Port of Spain, Leela Ramdeen , Chair of the CCSJ, representatives of the Ministry of Community Development, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Housing and the Port of Spain City Corporation.

All parties offered their full support to Fr Gordon in his efforts to improve the public image of the community of Gonzales. Mayor Brown made the point that you cannot promote reform without community involvement, and congratulated Fr Jason on his efforts.

He also congratulated the police because the level of crime in the area has subsided.

Mayor Brown said he expects this effort to be a model for use in other communities with similar problems. “Once you fix the problems in the community, you fix the problems in the country” he said.

Fr Jason said the major issues affecting Gonzales and Belmont were violence, crime, unemployment and the lack of infrastructure and developmental programmes.

He highlighted successes in establishing community activities like football competitions, and installing standpipes.

He also spoke of commitments from WASA for an improved water supply, from the Ministry of Community Development to rebuild the Community Centre, and the Ministry of National Security for a different approach to securing the area.