Nine students receive scholarships fromCAC 2000 Foundation

Nine primary school students are the proud recipients of scholarship grants recently presented by CAC 2000 Foundation. The students who transitioned this year from inner-city primary to secondary schools received bursaries totalling $50,000, inclusive of an android tablet under the Pearl Drue Wong Scholarship, named for the grandmother of Gia Abraham, CAC’S chief operating Officer.

Noting that the foundation’s scholarship programme began in 2019, Abraham said that the scholarships are specifically earmarked for the inner-city primary schools, namely, Dupont Primary, Cockburn Gardens, Seaview Gardens, Tavares Gardens, and The Abilities Foundation.

She said that “as a foundation, we are committed to providing this assistance because we know that a good education is the one thing no one can take away from you, and with it, anything is possible. We are committed to ensuring no child who has received a scholarship and continues to perform gets left behind. As such, our first cohort of scholarship recipients in 2019 were also awarded android tablets to ensure that during these unprecedented times, they will have access to their online classes.”

Abraham also explained, “Since its establishment in 2016, CAC 2000 Foundation has worked to assist disadvantaged, differently abled, and at-risk youth secure employment through education. We have partnered with existing programmes and entities such as RISE Life Management, which caters to the inner-city youth, and the Pacers Running Club to raise funds for S.T.E.P Centre, which caters to children with multiple disabilities. We have also collaborated with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) for our skills training programme for air conditioning repairs and servicing.”

TECHNICIAN TRAINING PROGRAMME

In 2019, the foundation launched a technician training programme, enrolling 132 persons from the inner city and training them in air conditioning service principles in partnership with the JSIF’s Integrated Community Development Programme. Seventy-two of them have graduated, with 40 per cent of the graduates becoming gainfully employed by either CAC 2000 Limited or associated companies. All graduates were outfitted with tools as a means of them starting their own business, if they so desired, as independent service technicians.

In addition to the Pearl Drue Wong Scholarships, the CAC Foundation offers three other scholarships:

• The Audrey Roberts Scholarship, valued at $250,000, issued to a University of the West Indies Humanities student;

• The Annabella Marston Scholarship, valued at $250,000, issued to a University of Technology, Jamaica student originating from the Montego Bay area;

• The CAC 2000 Foundation Scholarship valued at $50,000 each to a qualifying CAC staff members.

Abraham concluded: “ CAC 2000, as the leading experts on energy and indoor environmental quality, whose main purpose is ‘Improving People’s Lives’, is totally committed to Jamaica and the future of its people and sees education as a vehicle for ensuring the development of underserved communities.”