Randy Waldie, co-ordinator of the Pathway Project, looks at the
sign in the youth employment program’s Langford office window. Pathway has lost
its federal finding and will close in August after 13 years of helping West
Shore youth build their skills and find jobs.
— image
credit: Arnold Lim/News staff
·
posted Jul 2, 2014 at
6:00 PM
Jen
Harrison wipes tears from her eyes.
After
13 years, the Pathway Project, a busy employment agency helping youth in the
West Shore, is closing in mid-August. A casualty of federal cuts, the loss
slams the door on both the community and the people they want to serve, said
Harrison, community co-ordinator for WorkLink, the parent organization to Pathway.
“We
want youth to vote, we want youth to be involved in their communities, we want
youth to have a voice so we can create inclusive places to grow and develop,”
she said.
“When
we close these places down, we send the opposite message.”
Participants
are between 15 and 30, are not in school and are out of work. Pathway sees them
paid minimum wage to go through programming aimed at building their skills and
confidence. They also learn first aid, take the FoodSafe course and learn
customer service as a way to get into or return to the workforce.
“It is
very hard to explain why places like this have to close, especially when
everything around them (here) is growing,” Harrison said. (This program) is
considered a success by youth and politicians, municipally, provincially and
federally. We hit our stats, we do our deliverables. We deliver, but it closes
and I don’t understand why.”
Randy
Waldie, co-ordinator for the Langford-based Pathway Project, may also lose his
job in the process. He said the 16-week program has helped hundreds of people,
a fact that show opportunities like this are needed more, not less.
“The
demand far outstrips what anyone is able to provide right now, and right now
there is nothing (else),” he said.
He said
Service Canada no longer has a youth hiring program. “What is a youth going to
do to get a resume or a little direction with a little help, let alone all the
barriers our youth here deal with?”
Many
people who walk through their doors at Pathway have barriers in their lives
that make finding a job more difficult, Waldie said. Staff help them work
through feelings of anxiety, depression, lack of work experience, addiction and
health issues.
The
program provides both structure and support, helping people like 21-year old
Melissa Page, who graduated out of the program a month ago.
“I was
really shy, I had been dealing with depression and wasn’t able to put myself
out there,” she said. “They challenged us in many different ways and when it
was hard, they would take me aside and help me. (They) really understand
everyone’s needs. It gave me the confidence I needed to get out here.”
The
Langford resident hadn’t been working for almost two years when she decided to
give Pathway a shot and now enjoys her receptionist job at Chatters hair salon.
“It
makes me really upset, because the program has been around for 13 years and
helped me,” she said of the funding cut. “Youth in general have a hard time
finding work and it helps us get to where we need to go ... to hear that people
are not going to be there is distressing.”
The
program, which costs approximately $435,000 a year, sees $211,000 of the funds
for minimum wage, 30 hours per week for participants. The rest goes to
administration including rent and staff.
Esquimalt-Juan
de Fuca MP Randall Garrison said it is a good investment and has seen the
program in action, having met young participants as they went through in the
past.
He
called the move the wrong cut at the wrong time.
“It has
been a great success at getting at-risk youth into jobs or back into school and
that has to be one of our highest priorities,” he said. “I know they get at
least three times the applicants than they can take … If you help get at-risk
youth now, it will actually save you money down the road.”
Waldie,
who still takes calls about program placement, doesn’t know where to go from
here.
“I am
very sad, because there are less and less (services) for youth, particularly
youth that are vulnerable … there is just nothing. Nothing,” he said. “Parents,
social workers and youth are calling every day about the next intake, (but)
there will be no next intake.”
alim@vicnews.com
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