Upton Attributes Success To Strategic Planning

Contact: John Emmanuel

Friday, June 22, 2001 – Officials of the Upton Gardens Girls’ Centre located at Cedars say strategic and pro-active planning has been the underlining factor behind the centre’s many successes over the years.

Set-up as a safe haven to rehabilitate problem and disadvantaged teenaged girls, the centre’s Director Prisca St. Paul notes that since its establishment over two decades ago, over 700 girls from all walks of like have passed through the centre’s doors and have successfully completed the three-year programme.

According to St. Paul, “as we plan strategically, we look at the society, the families and kinds of clients we will have. Who are they going to be, what kind of service will they need? I send my staff out and we give simulation presentations on the communities around us, especially those that are high risks, to find out what’s happening out there. Some of the questions we ask are, if we are to get a child from there, what would be their needs, what kinds of support services are available in that community and what can Upton really provide to that child? We need to know what we can get from outside that would be supportive to what we want to do inside.”

Although plagued with a lack of financial resources and space limitation, St. Paul says the centre continues to feel the pulse of communities, in order to cater to the needs of its girls. Teamwork she explains continues to be one of the hallmarks of the Centre’s operations.

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