Ongoing Support Programs
We are dedicated to long-term, meaningful partnerships. At the Negril All-Age School and the Negril Basic School, we support the children and their community's pursuit of excellence, while assisting in the maintenance of high quality facilities. To that end, the Foundation sponsors the following:

• Supporting good nutrition: Each day, the Foundation feeds up to one hundred children who would otherwise start school on an empty stomach. Lunch is additionally subsidized to ensure thatall students have access to an affordable healthy and balanced meal.;
• A school supplies program: The Foundation provides much needed classroom materials to teachers, as well as cleaning and maintenance products to the facility to ensure a productive environment which is also safe and clean;
• Assistance with water and electricity bills: As a result of the Foundation's investment in infrastructure and the expansion of the facility, utility costs have increased substantially over the years. With no accompanying increase in support from the Ministry of Education, the Foundation provides important support for this gap;
• Maintenance support: The Foundation underwrites ongoing major maintenance of the school, ensuring that our investment in the school and its many benefits to the children are protected. We substantially subsidize the salaries of a maintenance worker and a grounds man and additional one-off repairs, including plumbing, electrical and structural issues;
• Operational support: To improve the student to teacher ratio at the Basic School, the Foundation provides financial assistance that has allowed the school to hire a much needed additional teacher.

2007-2008 Projects
While continuing our ongoing commitments to the Negril All Age and Basic Schools, our current major capital project, begun in 2007, is the expansion and renovation of the Negril Library, located next door to the Negril All Age and Basic school facilities. The Library is in dire need of structural improvements and expansion. The Foundation will provide for those needs, as well as the following:

• Creation of a significant Junior Library
• Acquisition of new books and other learning materials
• Increasing computer and internet access;
• Introduction of large tables into a new study space;

The new, improved library space will be a much needed resource for children of all ages and reflects the Foundation's ambition to support learning for children.

In addition, construction of a new playground for the Negril Basic School will begin in the coming months. Students of the Basic School do not currently have a dedicated play area or equipment to complement improved conditions in their indoor learning space. Accordingly, we will create a new play structure and surrounding play area, complete with outdoor toys,balls, tricycles, hula-hoops, etc.

2006 Projects
We completed the following:

• Construction of new classroom space for over 70 first graders;
• Expansion of the Negril All Age School's library and technology center, created by the Foundation in 2004. It now houses nearly 750 volumes and 14 computers for use by over 500 first through ninth graders as well as a variety of teacher development programs;
• Further transformation of the Basic School into a stand-alone pre-school (without older children sharing the same space) with age-appropriate furnishings and materials that are now able to meet the developmental and pedagogical needs of Negril's three to five year olds;
• Creation of playing fields for the older children, accommodating soccer, cricket, netball and basketball;
• Creation of a staff room for teachers
• Renovation and expansion of the Principal's office;
• Re-painting of the entire facility;

Increased storage capacity for educational materials donated to both schools

2005 Projects
2005 was another productive year as the Rockhouse Foundation undertook its second major school project.

At the beginning of July 2005, as the children departed for summer vacation, heavy equipment began clearing trees and debris to build an addition onto the Negril Basic School at the back of the property upon which the Negril All Age School is located. The Negril Basic School serves children ages three through five and is the primary feeder for the Negril All Age School.

By the end of the summer, the Basic School was equipped with the following improvements:

• Separate play ground area
• New Age-appropriate furniture and additional early childhood education supplies
• New blackboards
• New lighting

Since the completion of construction, the Rockhouse Foundation has continued to provide supplemental operational support to the Basic School, assisting with:

• Maintence of school facilities and ground up keep
• Financial support to improve student teacher ratios by enabling the school to hire an additional teacher
• School supplies and educational materials

In addition, the Foundation also constructed, for the use of both schools:

• A new dining pavilion and kitchen
• Improved storage space and toilets

2004 Projects
The Rockhouse Foundation completed its ambitious inaugural project: the total renovation of the Negril All Age School. The renovation redressed decades of over-crowding and deferred maintenance. The School, originally built for approximately one hundred students, currently educates over five hundred students. Before the renovation, the building was in very poor condition with little ventilation, inadequate wiring, and leaky roofs.

The eight-week summer vacation provided the only window to complete the extensive renovations. A remarkable team consisting of craftsmen, sub-contractors, Rockhouse staff, vendors and volunteers from the local community combined efforts and contributed to the following improvements:

• Construction of 1200 sq. feet of new classroom space
• Total upgrade of electrical wiring and fixtures
• New custom furniture
• Re-roofing of existing buildings
• Re-surfacing of entry/play area
• Installation of security fencing around the entire property
• New windows and doors with security grilling
• Painting entire interior and exterior surface
• Renovation of library/technology center

During the course of the renovation, the Rockhouse Foundation and the Rockhouse Hotel invested approximately US$160,000 in the Negril All Age School Project. The project generated a tremendous amount of local enthusiasm and support and became a model for relationships the Foundation expects to build with other schools in the future. The Foundation worked closely with the School principal, its teachers, the local school board and community groups, the Negril Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Education, and the local Member of Parliament, each of whom leant their full support to the project.

The success of the project is shared with other organizations, most notably with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which made a significant financial contribution to the Foundation. In addition, the U.S. Embassy in Kingston donated ten late model computers to the School's new technology and literacy center, and through the Foundation's partnership with the Peace Corps, the School was assigned an experienced technology volunteer who remains to this day.

In an unforeseen use of the newly renovated facilities, the School emerged unscathed after providing temporary shelter to over 150 people when Hurricane Ivan ravaged Negril in 2004.

2003 Projects
The Rockhouse Hotel began its first project at the Negril All Age School: the rehabilitation of the Reading Room. The Hotel funded the purchase of materials and labor for the painting, tiling, electrical installation of lights and fan, and secured the room with new doors. The Hotel also became the sole sponsor of the school's breakfast program, providing a daily cooked breakfast for up to 100 children who would otherwise start the day without a meal. This program, which continues to this day, was previously funded by US AID whose three year commitment was expiring.

At the end of 2003, the owners of the Hotel invited key early supporters of it's charitable work to join them in forming the Rockhouse Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) organization.

Before 2003: The Rockhouse Foundation's Roots
Commitment to the community is a cornerstone of the Rockhouse Hotel's vision since its establishment in 1994. In the early years, prior to formalizing its programs with the Rockhouse Foundation, the community endeavors were focused on the inner city in Kingston, Jamaica's capital city.

The Trenchtown Development Association (TTDA) is a community-based, non-profit group formed in Kingston in 1995 to promote peace, self-reliance and the redevelopment of a neighborhood which experiences high levels of violence and poverty. Trenchtown was home to Bob Marley prior to his recording success, and in addition to promoting the world famous culture and history of this inner-city neighborhood, TTDA's objective is to maximize the community's resources and develop programs to ensure all members of the community have access to education and health facilities. In the years before the formation of the Foundation, the Rockhouse Hotel worked with the TTDA to realize the success of the following projects:

• Assisted in fundraising for furnishings at the Victory Basic School, including the purchase of classroom desks, chairs etc.;
• The Hotel established a Computer Center at the Trenchtown Community Center, including three new computers, printers, internet access and furniture;
• Contributed to establishing the Trenchtown Cultural Yard included procuring photographic materials and other items for exhibits, purchasing kitchen equipment and supplies for the restaurant, production of a promotional video, providing emergency funding for phone bills, car insurance etc.;
• Coordinated with Russell Simmons' charity, Rush Philanthropic Art Foundation, to bring a multimedia and documentary photography program conducted by the Brooklyn based Red Clay Arts to Trenchtown children;
• Provided paint and supplies for a community housing rehabilitation program;
• Provided emergency funding in the community for school supplies, food, medical care etc.

Additionally, the Hotel helped the TTDA create broader awareness of their cause and source new funding by promoting their story to magazine editors and introducing their good work to potential donors.