An employment program for at-risk youth, which provides both job training and after-hours support to address instability in youths' home life, is poised to come to the Coast, if the community funding partners can be located.
The Sunshine Coast Employment Centre (SCEC) is looking to offer BladeRunners for 12 local youth, aged 15 to 30, who face significant barriers to employment such as homelessness, drug addiction, not having completed high school, or having a high-risk home life, said Marcia Forst, an employment coach with M. Magas & Associates, Inc., which runs the SCEC.
Forst said the SCEC sees a steady stream of at-risk youth come through its doors, but she deems their chances of finding - and holding onto - employment "pretty slim."
"These kids, they really try to pull it together, but their home lives are so chaotic and such a mess that it's almost impossible," she said. "So [for example] moms who have babies and then their kids get roped into looking after them because the mom's out partying - all kinds of stuff."
Forst said the program would help Sunshine Coast youth find employment in industries such as construction, the trades, landscaping or restaurants. It would provide them with 24-hour support to assist them with personal problems and crises that might otherwise derail their employment. The program also provides job training, up to 18 months of on-the-job support, and training in life skills such as work ethics, goal setting, communications skills and health - as well as time, financial and anger management.
A series of government bodies - including the Ministry of Community Services, the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance and Service Canada - are funding approximately one-third of program costs. But to run the program, Forst said, partner organizations on the Coast would need to come forward to raise the balance of the program - just over $52,000.
"The government has said, 'We'll fund a portion of the cost per participant, but because we want each community to have a stake in it, we're asking each community to come up with about two-thirds of the funding for the entire program'," she said.
The cost to pay the balance for one participant would be $4,370, though Forst said SCEC would appreciate any contribution. In order for the program to go ahead, she said, funding commitments need to be in place by Aug.14. The SCEC is hosting a stakeholders meeting for interested parties July 28 at 3 p.m. at their office at 5782 Cowrie Street in Sechelt.
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