By LETRE SWEETING

STRONGER Neighbourhoods Bahamas Foundation (SNB) will be partnering with the Royal Bahamas Police Force for an upcoming student speech competition focused on crime prevention.

SNB president Giovanni Ferguson and his team of SNB Foundation executives met with Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander and other police officials on Thursday to discuss issues related to crime prevention, community support, and support for non-governmental entities and community efforts.

With the country’s murder climbing, as well as what police called a “startling” rise in reported cases of rape this year, Mr Ferguson said the need for discussion about crime prevention is more important than ever.

“SNB will be working with RBPF on an upcoming speech competition on crime prevention,” said Mr Ferguson.

The YouthSpeak Speech Competition will be held at 5.30pm on Wednesday, September 21, at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre at Police Headquarters on East Street.

The speech competition will be held in honour of 13-year-old Quinton Danny McKenzie, a student of L W Young, who died in hospital after being shot at a park in the Kemp Road area in June.

Mr Ferguson said, “This competition will engage school students from grades seven through 12 who will give their views and ideas on crime prevention.”

SNB Foundation is a Bahamian non-profit that seeks to build and sustain strong communities through empowerment, the creation of social opportunities and other efforts through partnership.

The speech competition is one of four initiatives SNB Foundation has planned, in conjunction with the RBPF. This partnership also aims to develop a centralised plan for non-governmental and charitable entities, increase community assistance in giving known information that can assist with investigations and developing a database system for community initiatives such as food drives for management and monitoring.