Halifax’s Youth Live program helps young people struggling with employment

A municipally-run youth employment experience program hosted local business representatives on Friday to hear about the struggles its “at-risk” participants face.

READ MORE: Feds open panel exploring youth employment in Canada

“What we mean by ‘at-risk’ is they’re facing barriers to employment. So it’s everything from lack of motivation, low self-confidence, to … criminal past,” said Lee Moore, manager of the 21-week program called Youth Live.

To participate, people must be between 16-24 years old, be out of school, and struggling to find a job.

Their job entails handling deliveries and repairs of green carts. By participating in the program, they learn life and job skills.

Prince’s Charities Canada organized the meeting at a facility in the Lakeside neighbourhood.

Peter Watson, a human resources business partner for Loblaw Companies, was one of the representatives at the event.

“We can train them the skills, we can teach them how to work the cash, we can teach them to work in the meat departments or the produce departments, it’s all about the attitude and how they come in and how they present themselves,” he said.

Shaila Gray joined the program when she was 16.

“I was getting in trouble, the normal teenager stuff. I dropped out of school,” she said in Dartmouth, where she now works for Halifax’s Animal Services.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I was getting in trouble, the normal teenager stuff. I dropped out of school," she said in Dartmouth, where she now works for Halifax's Animal Services.

Gray also works for Youth Live as a team leader assistant.

“It helped me out with my anxiety, of course with getting a job, and all the barriers I had,” she said.

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Prince’s Charities Canada has helped the program provide financial planning advice to participants.

“‘Do I get a new tattoo, or do I actually buy food for myself?’ And that’s an honest conversation we’ve had with some of the youth in the past,” Moore said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "'Do I get a new tattoo, or do I actually buy food for myself?' And that's an honest conversation we've had with some of the youth in the past," Moore said.

Tony Ince, minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, attended the meeting and said, among other jobs, he worked in sewers when he was younger.

“Don’t be too shy to turn anything down because, out of the smallest opportunity, often you have other opportunities that come up,” he added.