"In October 2014, the Genesis Junkanoo Organization was formed. Central to the formation of GJO is the empowerment of Junkanoos, the development of leadership skills in members and leveraging culture, and Junkanoo in particular, as a tool of community and personal development.
Upon assessing the Junkanoo community, it was recognized that the tradition bearers in Junkanoo were passing and that outside of Junior Junkanoo, there were few programmes in place to intentionally pass on the craft on to young people. To meet that need, GJO created and launched the TeenHawk Programme, a junkanoo-based personal development programme for young people between the ages of 13 – 18 years old in 2015.
The vision of the TeenHawks programme is to cultivate young leaders who will honour and protect the part of our cultural heritage that is junkanoo and will positively impact the junkanoo community and The Bahamas at large."