Big boost for youth jobs program
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/04/2022 (1365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BRANDON — Manitoba will put more green into its Green Team.
The annual summer jobs program, which helps municipalities and non-profits hire students, will get a $4 million boost, to $9 million this year.
Municipal Relations Minister Eileen Clarke made the announcement on the first day of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities spring convention in Brandon.
“Despite the recent weather, summer is approaching,” Clarke said with a chuckle. “We hope.”
Under the program, about 2,200 Manitobans aged 15 to 29 are employed in 700 projects run by non-profits and municipalities. Wages of participants are subsidized.
This year, Clarke said, one of the biggest goals is to help organizations and municipalities recover from COVID-19.
“As a former mayor, I know the value of these jobs for these youth,” said Clarke, former mayor of Gladstone.
“For most of them, this is their first job and this is where they get hands-on training, most often with people and under management. They have to show up for work on time and be managed by someone other than a parent.”
Clarke said municipalities need extra employees and the working participants of the program rely on the experience they receive.
Kam Blight, reeve of the RM of Portage la Prairie and association president, said the funding boost is appreciated.
“Increasing the program to $9 million is certainly welcome as our members enjoy tapping into this essential fund to help advance community development projects,” Blight said.
Municipalities have been dealing with staffing shortages and operating losses caused by the pandemic, he said.
June Letkeman, a councillor for the RM of Rhineland, listed several projects the program has funded in her community.
“We hire local students and they do jobs that our regular foreman and maintenance crew don’t have time for usually,” she said.
“Without (it), we would not have people to mow all the extra grass that we have in the summer, water our flowers, and do other duties around the community. We have a beach in Plum Coulee… it takes a long time to take care of that beach, and the Green Team is valuable because they have to rake the sand every morning and clear our pathways of all the goose poop.”
The municipality plans to have the collection digitized at the Prairie View Elevator Museum in Plum Coulee under the program.
— Brandon Sun