The Premier presented grants to three community organisations that support youth development and social services.

Pembroke Hamilton Club’s Drum and Majorette Corps, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Teen Services each received $12,500.

The cash came from the Confiscated Assets Fund, comprised of money seized from criminal activity.

David Burt, who is also the Minister of Finance, called community organisations “the cornerstones of our society” and expressed pride in helping to maintain their work.

Tawana Lee, the director of PHC Drum and Majorette Corps, said the group was grateful to receive the funds, which would be used to fund plans for the coming years.

Meanwhile, Shawnette Smith, the president of Delta Sigma Theta, said the cash made the sorority’s annual Children’s Reading Festival “a great success”.

Lawrence Scott, a Progressive Labour Party MP, supported the funding boost to Teen Services, which he said his mother founded in 1967 to support young people.

Dennis Lister III, another PLP MP, added: “My connection to Teen Services is also personal, as my mother, Miranda Lister, taught there in the mid-1990s and helped shape its early impact.

“It is a privilege to now support an organisation that has served our community across generations.”