CANDIDATE FOR ST. JOSEPH
Dennis DeCourcey Holder was born St. Joseph in 1962 within months of the watershed victory of the Democratic Labour Party in 1961. He has lived in that constituency all his life and therefore possesses a wealth of knowledge relevant to the uplifting of this constituency. He currently lives in St. Joseph with his wife Caroline and their two sons, Kaide and Kaveh. Dennis worships at the Calvary Baptist Church in Cleavers Hill, St. Joseph where he also serves as an Evangelist.
Dennis received his Primary and Secondary Education in St. Joseph, during which he twice served as Headboy. He then pursued studies at the Barbados Community College, Erdiston Teachers’ College and the University of the West Indies, where he again displayed leadership talent.
Dennis Holder’s teaching career spans 28 years, during which he laid solid educational foundations, and prepared students at several Primary and Secondary Schools for the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE) and the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, respectively.
More recently he has been actively involved in informal education through the Community Development Technology Programme. This he has been doing since 2002. During this period he has helped several members of the community to develop their computer skills. He has also spent a considerable amount of time with young people in communities throughout St. Joseph, getting them actively involved in sports, education and small business development.
It was during his final years at Secondary school that Dennis got involved in politics. On that memorable occasion he competed with the then school boy David Thompson in the finals of the National Secondary Schools Debating Competition. His growing interest in politics led him to study the ideologies, policies and programmes of the established Parties; and he finally decided to join the Young Democrats. Since then, he has been a strong supporter of the Democratic Labour Party and attributes the enormous progress enjoyed by all Barbadians to a succession of innovations starting with free public education and the School Meals Programme. For him the time has come to give something back to his community, his parish and his country.
As an Educator, Dennis subscribes fully to the old Chinese Proverb: “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish you feed him for life”. So, as the DLP candidate for St. Joseph, Dennis’ aim is to empower constituents to put their God-given talents, and their acquired knowledge and skills to optimum use.
He has therefore been involved in the formation or rejuvenation of many community associations such as the St. Elizabeth Youth Group, Rangers Football Club, the St. Joseph Football Team, Bathsheba Bucks Basketball Club, West View 4-H Club, and the Parish Independence Committee. His full involvement in the 4-H movement, together with his exemplary leadership skills and love for agriculture, afforded him the prestigious opportunity to be chosen as an Ambassador to the United States of America for the Barbados 4-H Movement.
After extensive consultation and needs assessment throughout the constituency, he has drawn up plans for the development of St. Joseph through:
- Homework and Adult Education Programmes;
- Rejuvenated Youth Groups;
- House repairs and relocations;
- Improving the reliability of the water supply;
- Road repairs and improvement;
- Installation of additional streetlights;
- Upgrading of sporting facilities;
- Organizing month-end markets to enable constituents to sell a wide variety agricultural produce, as well as art and craft items.
Dennis Holder has all the prerequisites of an excellent Parliamentary Representative. Give him a chance to bring St. Joseph into the limelight and enjoy its rightful share of the benefits of being part of prosperous, just and enlightened Barbados in the second decade of the 21st century.
Contact the Candidate
Constituency Office (246) 433-9626
