We work to increase access to education, food, healthcare, housing, and livelihood opportunities across vulnerable communities in Jamaica.
Our Current Projects
With your help, we are building classrooms and homes, providing scholarships and food kits to Jamaican students, and continue to ship and distribute food to schools, churches, and local community organizations.
How We Help Every Day
FFPC focuses its efforts in Jamaica on various areas of programming to help lift families out of poverty. Access to education, food, healthcare, and safe housing are challenges faced by local communities, and we work to support families in as many ways as possible.
Jamaican children are often unable to attend school, predominantly for financial reasons as parents may not have the capacity to afford fees, uniforms, and supplies. This forces them to discontinue their education, and to start working from a very young age, typically physical labour work.
Food insecurity is another issue many face, some only eating one meal a day, as is access to healthcare, where many Jamaicans are either unable to afford treatment, or live far from the nearest hospital or clinic where they can seek care.
Low-income families living in poor housing conditions often lack proper shelter, sanitation, and access to a safe water source. Homes are not secure, leaving people vulnerable to danger such as theft and exposure to the elements, especially during the rainy season when inclement weather is a common occurrence.
With the help of our donors and in-country partners, we work across Jamaica to:
- Build early childhood schools
- Provide school furniture, computers, supplies, scholarships, and teacher training
- Build safe homes with water and sanitation components
- Ship and distribute medicine, medical supplies, and equipment to hospitals and health centres
- Ship and distribute food to schools, orphanages, churches, and local organizations
- Implement livelihood and income-generation projects
- Send items to be included in emergency kits as part of emergency preparedness and response efforts
Our Work with Food For The Poor Jamaica
FFPC works with Food For The Poor Jamaica (FFPJ) to improve health, food, and livelihood conditions of the local community which we serve through our 5 areas of programming and emergency relief aid and response.
FFPJ partners with a number of stakeholders including churches, non-governmental and private sector organizations, children’s homes, and service organizations throughout the island that deal directly with the poor to fill their most urgent needs and to encourage self-sufficiency.
To learn more about FFPJ’s programming and distribution work, click here.
Country Statistics
- 12.8% of Jamaicans are food insecure, equaling to about 400,000 people
- increase in poverty by over 4%
- Nearly 20% of the national population is living below the poverty line