Michael’s Steppers Marching Band (SMSMB) is a community based organization (CBOs) that operates within the Rae Town community and the wider Kingston Central and Kingston Eastern Police Divisions. The mandate of SMSMB is to uplift the community and its youth membership in particular through music. SMSMB uses the marching band concept as a violence prevention activity on the one hand, while advancin
g music as a viable alternative livelihood option. The organization was established in 2009 where it operated from the Ormbsy Hall Primary School. However, it has recently relocated its operations to St Michael’s Primary Scholl. The organization has 62 members (42 males and 20 females). The marching band constituents include an axillary team (20 females), a wind team (12 males) and a percussion team (30 members – 29 males and 1 female). The SMSMB has performed at over 300 events locally and internationally. Most notably SMSMB has performed at three grand galas, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Prime Minster 2010 Youth Awards; West Indies day Carnival Association in Brooklyn, New York, August 1, 2014; Her Worship the Mayor Angela Brown- Burke’s 2012 swearing in ceremony; and the Hear the Children Cry Road march in 2015. The SMSMB also carries out a number of community outreach projects that are aimed at providing well needed welfare and educational assistance to the elderly and children. The following are some of the major outreach projects carried out by the SMSMB:
- An annual visit to the Vineyard Town Infirmary, where band members cater to the residents hygiene needs (combing hair, manicure, pedicure etc.)
- Host health fair at Ormsby Hall Primary School where the 100 residents got their free blood pressure and diabetes tests
- Members assisted with the painting of St Michael’s Infant and primary Schools
- Marching band performs free at community funerals and school events
- Marching band supports the Police Division’s community activities. In 2015 SMSMB applied for funding under the USAID COMET II project to establish a social enterprise venture in the form Juice Depot located within the community focusing on the sale of various forms of beverages. The focus of the enterprise is to help reduce the prices of food within the community. The profits generated by the sale of the food items from the depot will be reinvested in the business as well as used to support the overall activities of the Marching Band.
