Instead of relying on Police and the authorities to come down heavy on those who abuse drugs or commit acts of violence or other anti-social behaviour, communities need to get together as a single group to encourage positive change.

When it comes to dealing with ?wall sitters? and miscreants there is no better cure than the updated version of the old saying ?it takes a village to raise a child?.

Bringing up the youth of today to be healthy, mature adults of tomorrow is the key, and in 21st century Bermuda it is not the ?village? that brings up the child ? it is the responsibility of the people of the respective parish.

That was one of the potent messages delivered to residents of Warwick parish at a public meeting last night to hear about a rolling programme to empower communities to take charge of their neighbourhoods and be trained to deal effectively with social problems in their midst.

Getting young people who have gone off the rails to see the error of their ways is far more likely to be achieved if the message is delivered by their own peer group, by their own neighbours and the people they share their parish with ? rather than some outside authority such as the Police or Government.

And it is far more likely to be a success if the root problems are addressed, be they availability of drugs, weapons, family breakdowns or extreme poverty. Prevention rather than allowing a problem to manifest itself is the ultimate goal.

Minister for Community Affairs Dale Butler presented the meeting at Thorburn Hall in Ord Road to promote the Parishes Achieving Change Together (PACT) initiative, which is being hosted by the Ministry for National Drug and The Family Agency.

Amongst those in attendance was UBP Senator Gina Spence-Farmer who heard that Warwick can, if enough of its residents band-together, become the fifth Island parish to start training to have its own PACT community set-up to address social ills amongst youngsters.

Kimberley Jackson, preventative officer with the Ministry for National Drug Control, said: ?We want to stop substance abuse before it starts. We want to develop young people into healthy adults. PACT is a preventative tool to promote positive youth development.?

And Martha Dismont, executive director of lead PACT agency Family Centre, said Bermuda had ?all the right ingredients? to make such a community-based initiative work.

Hamilton Parish, Sandys, Pembroke and Devonshire have all to varying degrees started training up to be PACT parishes.

will present a full account of the aims of PACT and what has been done across the Island so far later this week.