Mr. Killa Hires Seven Community Youths as He Calls for Action on Unemployment Grenadian soca artist Mr. Killa has hired seven young people from his community to work on his construction project, saying he wants to turn concerns about opportunities for youth into direct action. In a video shared on Instagram, Mr. Killa said he had previously avoided discussing the issue publicly because he preferred for problems within the community to be addressed internally. However, he said the situation had become “overbearing” and it was now time to have the conversation. Mr. Killa also raised concerns about young people gambling within the community, claiming that even schoolchildren were becoming involved. He said some students were returning from school, changing their clothes and then going back out to gamble, while he believed too little was being done to address the situation. “Nobody doing anything about it in our communities,” Mr. Killa said, before calling for greater community leadership. The soca artist said his own response was to provide employment. “I have at least seven of them here today,” he said, explaining that he had hired young people from the block to work on his construction project. Mr. Killa acknowledged that he cannot employ every young person who needs an opportunity and appealed to other people who are in a position to provide work to become involved. In his accompanying Instagram post, he called on people with businesses, job opportunities, trades they can teach or other honest work to reach out. He also specifically highlighted the need for better employment opportunities for young women. “We need better work for the females. We need to do better than this,” he said. Mr. Killa described the seven jobs as a starting point rather than a solution to the wider problem, writing, “7 today,” and expressing hope that the effort would multiply throughout the community. His initiative places the focus on creating opportunities at the community level, with the artist urging others who have the ability to employ or train young people to contribute.<\/p>\n