FIONA BURKE

Founder & Executive Director

Flourish Mentorship Program

 

Fiona is a Communications Specialist who grew up in Red Hills in St. Andrew, Jamaica. She was born into a family of community servants. Her paternal grandmother, Althama Miller (now deceased), who was affectionately called Sister D or Sis, started Red Hills Baptist Church and later founded Red Hills Basic School. Her grandfather, Naaman Miller (also now deceased), known by everyone as Brother Mills, in addition to serving as a Deacon at Red Hills Baptist Church for many years, sat on almost every board that existed within the community, including the Board of the National PC Bank.

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Fiona inherited her love for people and community involvement and has partnered with her mother as Co-founder of the Gordon Miller Community Development Fund (GMCDF) established in 2011 in honour of her father, a year after his death. The Gordon Miller Community Development Fund was established to assist with meeting various needs within the community and has so far made donations to the Red Hills All Age School Past Students’ Association, Red Hills Basic School, Red Hills Health Centre and Padmore Primary School. 

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In addition to the Fund, she played a very integral role on the planning committee for the community’s biggest annual family-friendly event, Miss Red Hills Talent and Beauty Pageant from 2012 – 2014. Working with and helping to nurture the young contestants in the Miss Red Hills Pageant, whose ages ranged from 16-25, is what helped to point Fiona in the direction of mentorship, and enabled the natural segue into her role as Founder & Executive Director of Flourish Mentorship Program.

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Flourish is an initiative of the Gordon Miller Community Development Fund specifically designed for 13-18 year old female high school students. It aims to empower and uplift them and covers an array of topics including: respect for self and others, character and integrity, how decisions made today affect the future and the importance of being sexually responsible.

      

Young ladies who are exposed to the Flourish curriculum leave knowing who they are, what they’re worth and what they have within them. It helps them discover what they want to achieve and what to do to make it happen. In essence, at the end of the period they are fully equipped to flourish.

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Team building activities, group discussions, motivational talks, formal presentations and outings are some of the methods used to engage the young participants. Upon completion, which is usually after 12weeks, each young lady receives a certificate of participation and other awards earned during the period.

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Flourish which is primarily funded by donations from persons in Jamaica and abroad, started on Saturday, February 14, 2015 with 8 girls. To date, some 50 girls have graduated from the program, which has been an overwhelming success. Both participants and their parents have said it has been a life changing experience.

 

Through the program, the girls have had the opportunity to meet prominent Jamaican women like Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, former Olympian; popular theatre actress, Camille Davis; Dr. Renee Rattray, Director of Educational Projects at Jamaica National Foundation; renown journalist, Dionne Jackson Miller; the affable host of the Digicel Rising Stars talent show, Terri-Karelle Reid; Brenda Cuthbert, CEO of Jamaica Employers’ Federation and Keisha Hayle, revolutionary Principal of Padmore Primary School.

 

So far, Flourish has enjoyed media attention from Jamaica Observer, KLAS ESPN FM 89 and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS):

 

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Fiona-s-Flourish_19220217

 

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Flourishing2016-04-30T17-20-56

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4fxcFZcJo

 

 Fiona, who holds a degree in Mass Communication & English from Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, and is married with one child, sees the Flourish curriculum being replicated in communities all across Jamaica. She recently launched the Gordon Miller Flourish Scholarship to be offered to two high school students each year, which she hopes persons will make donations to. She intends to impact the lives of countless other young women through the program in the years to come.