About The Jahmeyka Project

About Us

The Jahmeyka Project is a non-profit organization seeking to directly benefit social services and communities in Jamaica.

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The Jahmeyka Project's origins began twenty years ago when Dr. Leslie Yaffa went to Jamaica as a Master’s of Social Work student.  She created a graduate-level course that offered students an international social work experience focused on community engagement in Jamaica.  After 5 years of visiting multiple agencies with students, and experiencing the Jamaican social service culture through the course she had developed, it was clear to Dr. Yaffa that the community she built needed to move beyond the classroom.

Today, the Jahmeyka Project utilizes an experiential learning, collaborative and educational approach with our partnerships in Jamaica. We build on critical and reflective thinking, community service, partnership responsibility, and inclusion. Through knowledge mobilization and partnerships, we will continue to building a non-profit, that will be open to all helping professions in future years who want to engage in professional training, grant writing, workshops, field placements (both in Jamaica and in our organization), outreach, and research.

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Beyond our work on the ground, The Jahmeyka Project supports organizations in the Kingston, Jamaica area who have identified needs in their communities for goods such as school supplies and hygiene products. We also donate funds to agencies for their operating costs that are deemed to be most in need-based upon our application process.