Barbara Cartwright received her instrument of appointment to the Senate and was sworn in as Minister of Social Services at a ceremony held over the weekend at Government House.

Cartwright spoke with reporters after the event about her goals for the new position. She said, “we are trying to reduce poverty in the country. And I believe I can, with everyone’s help, do a good job with reducing that poverty level.”

Minister Cartwright also shared some of her background. “I’ve been involved in assisting persons for a very long time, from the B.J. Nottage era in Bain and Grants Town and that’s when I recognized the need. And I’ve continued it on through being the Secretary General of the Progressive Liberal Party. COVID was a big challenge for the country, and again, we took a great initiative by making sure people were fed because we did not think the food was distributed in the right way at that time. So we did our own food distribution throughout the islands. The need was great then and while its reduced I think we can still do a better job of reducing poverty in the country,” she said.

Cartwright also served as Chairperson of the Board at the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation.