Bahamas Urban Renewal Tender

Officials from the Urban Renewal Commission Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development recently distributed care packages to 900 families residing in the urban communities of New Providence where Centres are located.They included Bain and Grants Town Centreville Englerston Fort Charlotte Fox Hill Free Town Nassau Village Pinewood and St. Barnabas. Care packages were also delivered to a number of Senior Citizen facilities.Minister of Social Services and Urban Development the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell said there are times when families in the urban communities may need assistance for a short period of time outside of the scope of the Department of Social Services. He said it is during these times that the Urban Renewal Commission can step in and assist those families.Minister Campbell said as both entities basically serve the same group of persons and fall under the scope of the same Minister there will naturally be opportunities for collaborations in the best interests of Bahamian families from time to time.Its not a duplication of efforts Minister Campbell noted. Rather its simply a matter of two agencies that fall under the scope of the same Minister and the same Ministry complementing each other and combining some of their assets to effect positive change within our communities as opposed to being in competition with one another Minister Campbell said. Opportunities for these types of collaborations between Urban Renewal and the Department of Social Services from time to time can only be a plus Minister Campbell added. Acting Director of the Urban Renewal Commission Mr. Kellen Russell said the beneficiaries of the care packages were identified during the usual walkabouts through the communities conducted by Centre Managers and Staff.That information Director Russell said is then forwarded to the relevant government stakeholders in order to effect positive change for residents of the urban communities.The Department of Social Services does a great job in meeting the needs of many in our communities but when you look at the size of some of the households within those communities that assistance particularly food assistance can be dispatched of within a short period of time Mr. Russell said. The persons who received the gift packages were identified by the Centre Managers and the Staff of the Centres and included the elderly single mothers andor participants in some of the many programmes that we run at the Centres.The walkabouts provide us with a great source of information with regards to who is in need and what are some of the things that need to be done to address the concernsdeficiencies of or in those communities. We are then able to meet with the relevant agencies in order to get those needs addressed.With our link to Social Services we will have an idea we will have an understanding we will have the necessary intelligence that will cause us to understand who the persons are in the urban communities who have a real need so that we can extend our hands to them thereby making services accessible to these communities Acting Director Russell added.