BA TIMES

 Volume 1, Issue 2                     

 June 2006

C.R.A.D.L.E. is an acronym represented by Corporate support, Religious organizations,

Artists, Doctors, Legal practitioners and Educators working in tandem to lend assistance

to NGO’s across the Caribbean.

The C.R.A.D.L.E. Initiative of British American

British American as the patron of C.R.A.D.L.E., holds all legal entitlement to the name as well  as assets of the organization and is responsible for the on-going funding of offices, staff and administration.

There will be a role for the employees including the agents in the Cradle Initiative. Specific projects can be identified by the British American team. Where our employees are directly involved, we propose using the theme: “The hands that rock the Cradle.” The phrase is not only creatively appropriate, but it reinforces the British American presence in the Initiative as the patron/founder. Ads identifying the role played by British American staff through their charitable projects help to validate the corporate philosophy of caring and sharing.

Virtually every Caribbean island finds a society in which there are few exemplars for young people. The result is widespread-crime, drugs, AIDS, violence, teenage pregnancy and an increasing number of school drop-outs. There is a growing feeling of despair and while various NGO’s stretch scarce resources to make some kind of contribution, there is an absence of concerted effort. It is here that British American can make an impact across the region. We propose to launch the most ambitious, regional initiative to provide leadership to young people through mentoring, education and by promoting the work of all NGO’s in these and other areas. This will be a massive multi-media collaborative effort with the NGO’s of the region. Apart from the obvious benefit of contributing to the development of Caribbean society, the goodwill to be gained from this will be immense.

As an insurance company that has in its own way been cradling the needs of Caribbean people since 1920-caring, nurturing, protecting and investing in their lives, this becomes the most meaningful way to create genuine, lasting bonds of loyalty, friendship and respect from local and national communities in each island in which British American has a presence in the region. In that context, there can be no investment that could ever produce better returns.

Cradle was launched at the Coalition For Domestic Violence on April 3rd 2006 and both Mr. Brian Branker  and Mr. Robert Fullerton addressed the audience of representatives from relevant NGO’s, volunteer groups, media and the general public.

Shortly after this launch, one of the first ventures of Cradle was to organize a fair involving all the NGO’s under Cradle. We have enclosed below some photos from the launch and Fair.