The Freedom Skate Park in Bull Bay, St Andrew in Kingston, Jamaica, was officially opened on Wednesday.
Constructed in March-April 2020, the Freedom Skate Park was inspired by Andre 'Wildfiyah' Thompson, a 20-year old Jamaican skateboarder who tragically lost his life to violence in 2009.
He was passionate about youth development and promoting social enterprise within his community, which included writing proposals to local foundations with a hope to raise funds that would help up-skill young people.
A keen skateboarder with a creative flair, Andre also developed his own skateboard dance and song to accompany it.
A part of his dream was for Jamaica to have a skate park and Andre spoke of this just days before his passing.
With the support of the Sandals Foundation, Seprod Foundation, Concrete Jungle Foundation and Flipping Youth among others, the Freedom Skate Park was built in his honour and dedicated in his memory.
It is a place where young people can take part in social development programmes and be free to express themselves creatively.
Alando Terrelonge, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports echoed these sentiments speaking on behalf of Minister Olivia Grange.
“As a UNESCO Member State, Jamaica supports the Action Plan on Sport for Development and Peace and with the adoption of the Kazan Action Plan in 2017, sport ministers committed to use sport as a major tool for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he told the audience gathered for the occasion.
“The opening of this skate park this afternoon is therefore consistent with national, regional and global sport policies to intentionally use sport, physical activity and play to achieve what we in the sport sector call ‘non-sport outcomes’.
“Strong Sport for Development and Peace programmes embody the values of sport while embracing the experience that sport and play can provide.
“They empower the participants and communities in which they are being implemented by engaging them in the design, development and delivery of the objectives while building capacity at the local level.”
The skate park also offers programmes beneficial to youth from the surrounding communities.
Over the past two years, the Skate Park has offered programmes that include giving youth opportunities to engage in park maintenance, gardening, carpentry and concrete work, activities designed to encourage a sense of ownership within the community.
Also, through its partnership with Concrete Jungle Foundation the skate park also provides local employment opportunities in the areas of skate-park construction, teaching, park management, graphic design and social media management. Twenty-six people are currently employed in those vocations.
There is also a homework/education programme as well as a summer programme.
More than 500 children of an average age of 14 years have registered to use the park’s facilities. The skate park has also rented almost 4000 skateboards since its inception.
The Freedom Skate Park is also supported by Tmrw.Tday Culture Fest. H.E.L.P, SK876, SPC, Jeffrey Moss-Solomon, Blake Burnett, Lisa D’Oyen, Lorraine Jones, Gina Brady-Mair, Tabetha Phillips and Kayla Wheeler.