Community Service
THE GLEANER COMPANY HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND IS COMMITTED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION THROUGH ITS CORPORATE PROJECTS. THE GLEANER COMPANY HAS MANY WORTHWHILE COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES FOR WHICH IT IS JUSTLY, BUT QUIETLY PROUD.
The Gleaner’s Spelling Bee Championship sponsored annually by The Children’s Own Newspaper.
The Gleaner Honour Award, an annual recognition of the individual who has contributed significantly to improving Jamaica’s quality of life.
The Governor General’s Achievement Award, co-sponsored in association with Building Societies Association of Jamaica and Jamaica National Building Society, giving national exposure to the ordinary Jamaican who is an ’unsung hero’ in his/her community.
Crime Stop whereby the Gleaner, in association with other media houses publishes information relating to crimes to assist the police.
Pals Jamaica, a non-profit organization established in conjunction with other media houses, private sector companies, Jamaica Teachers Association, The Council of Churches and the Ministries of Health and Education, to teach conflict resolutions in schools. The six components of the programme:
Community Building: This is about establishing trust, exploring common interests and respecting differences. By building community, threat is reduced.
Understanding conflict: The goal is to arrive at an understanding of what conflict is in order to prepare the way for using skills that will preserve relationships, respect feelings and solve problems.
Perception: Conflict can be caused by differences in perception. If people can learn to differentiate fact from opinion and make allowances for other points of view, all will reap the benefits of increased tolerance.
Anger management: The nature of anger is examined. Emphasis is placed on what triggers anger and strategies for managing communities.
Rules for making peace: The rules for making peace provide a constructive alternative to inappropriate behaviours that attack the dignity of others and escalate conflict, such as putting the other person down, being sarcastic, bringing up the past, hitting, not taking responsibility, getting even, not listening and making excuses.
Effective communication: Good conflict resolution requires one to be able to state one's case without arousing the defences of the other person.
Newspaper in Education, a programme that distributes Gleaner newspapers to 100 schools each year.