Twenty-six-year-old Jenine Shepherd, president of the Jamaican American Youth Alliance (JAYA), a NY-based 501 © (3) that has supported over 30,000 young Jamaican diasporans in the USA through its advocacy, networking, and mentorship opportunities, has recently been invited to become an Honorary Advisor of the New York Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, Inc.
This comes from Ms. Shepherd’s attendance at the United Nations Summit of the Future during the UN79th General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York this past September. The purpose of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY is to monitor, educate, support, and influence the implementation of the commitments and agreements adopted by the United Nations that pertain to sustainable development as defined by the UN Conference on Environment and Development, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the MDGs, the SDGs, the Paris Agreement on Climate Action, Rio+20 and Post-2015 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Agenda.
She told Caribbean Life that the NGOCSD-NY has Special Consultative Status with the UN Council of Economic and Social Affairs and Association with the UN Department of Global Communications. In this organization, she joins a long list of esteemed Honorary Advisors.
Shepherd brings more than 12 years of experience growing and scaling companies in the Caribbean region. She founded Youths for Excellence Limited at just 17 and expanded it to eight countries. She possesses a Bachelor’s in Neuroscience and Economics from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where she attended on a full scholarship of USD 87k a year.
Her non-profit organization has assisted over 12,000 children across the region in gaining access to crucial resources for their educational achievement by providing healthcare, nutrition, educational content, assistance with transportation, and support for their families with opportunities for skills development and job placement. She has done this via partnerships with numerous government agencies and over 30 of the largest corporate conglomerates across the region.
Her NGO work earned her the Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in Nation Building in 2018, a coveted spot on the Caribbean 30 Under 30 listing by Ignite Caribbean in 2021, The Diana Award from Princess Diana’s Estate (the most prestigious award in the world that a young person can receive for social action and humanitarian work) in 2021, The Outstanding Leadership and Citizenship Award from the UK-based Roy Anthony Reid Foundation in 2022,
In 2023, she also received the Anthem Award for Best Young Person in Education, Art, and Culture, alongside other awardees like Michelle Obama’s ‘When We All Vote‘ Foundation, Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation, Oprah Winfrey’s Foundation, and UNICEF, and the Outstanding Leadership in Education Award from the Education 2.0 Conference, alongside Ivy League educators and members of US state boards, which took place in Las Vegas in March 2024.
“We are excited to continue our impact in the Caribbean and have seen the work that Jénine has been able to accomplish at such a young age. We believe that having her join us would be very beneficial as we look to collaborate in scaling up our positive impact in communities to leave no one behind,“ says Margo LaZaro, President and Chair of the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, Inc.
In response, Shepherd, the new NGOCSD-NY Honorary Advisor, said, “I’m looking forward to highlighting our region, which is often overlooked. We have so much untapped potential, and I intend to focus resources on my people. ”
