Laventille, East Port-Spain

Laventille is one of the oldest residential communities in East Port-of-Spain. It is located at the rim of the city on the foothills of the Northern Range.  This unplanned development is a mixture of ad hoc houses and government low income high rises.  Like most of East Port-of-Spain, Laventille is deeply embedded in the cultural history of Trinidad. (Steel pan, calypso, and carnival)  Today, however the community echoes a different tune, the famous Caribbean writer and poet Derek Walcott described the community in his poem, “The middle passage never guessed its end” as: (Baldeosingh 2008)

“This is the height of poverty,

for the desperate and black....Derek Walcott.

Revitalizing Laventille

According to the Major of Port-of-Spain Louis Lee Sing, change is on the way.  The Inter-America Development Bank (IDB) in partnership with the government of Trinidad and Tobago are embarking on a plan under the “Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative”, to redevelop Laventille.  Redevelopment is usually seen as the removal of blight, be it social, economic of physical deficices whilst achieving a new image for the community.  The plan is to turn the residences of East Port-of-Spain into business, in an attempt to eradicate intergenerational poverty and crime. (Guardian Media 2012)  The hope is to reconnect East Port-of –Spain with the city.

Revitalizing poverty stricken communities by creating economic opportunity and fighting poverty have become common government initiatives in both the developed world and developing world.  Governments and scholars alike believe that the war must be fought, through the use of a “place based strategy”.  (Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative- The White House n.d.)   The United States President,  Barack Obama, July 18, 2007, declared:

“If poverty is a disease that infects an entire community in the form of unemployment and violence; failing schools and broken homes, then we can’t just treat those symptoms in isolation. We have to heal that entire community” - Barack Obama (Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative- The White House n.d.)

Another key factor that is common in most of these communities are strong community bonds and high levels of social capital.  Some academics are of the view that these bonds can be capitalized with the injection of increased resources and help to counter debilitating trends.  

Biblography

Baldeosingh, Kevin. "Laventille then is now." 08 08, 2008. www.newsday.co.tt (accessed 04 06, 2014).

Guardian Media. "East P.O.S: Decaying." Guardian Media Limited. 11 04, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.tt (accessed 04 05, 2014).

Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative- The White House. Report, Washington: White House.