West St. Paul, Manitoba Metis Federation and City of Selkirk partner on employment readiness program
The RM of West St. Paul is proud to partner with the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) and the City of Selkirk on an urban beautification project that benefits all three parties.
It’s My Community Too (IMCT) is an employment readiness program for Metis, Non-Status and Inuit workers experiencing barriers to employment.
"We’re excited to work alongside the Manitoba Metis Federation and the City of Selkirk to provide training and work experience for young people who in turn help beautify our municipality,” said Mayor Cheryl Christian.
"It’s a terrific program that benefits everyone involved.”
David Chartrand, President of the MMF, said IMCT is an important program that has been running every summer since 2009, and is even more important in the wake of the pandemic.
"Creating jobs for our citizens is one of the MMF’s top priorities post-COVID,” Chartrand said.
"Through this program, everyone wins: our citizens find meaningful work and job training, the City of Selkirk and the RM of West St. Paul receive community beautification, and taxpayers save money.”
In West St. Paul, the crew will beautify our green spaces by trimming trees and removing dead ones from public reserves and parks.
As an employment readiness training program, IMCT combines classroom training, safety certification and hands-on work experience. Trainees earn a wage throughout the program and receive employment and training counselling and assistance in developing career goals and actions plans, job search strategies and referrals to other employment and training opportunities.
This year’s crew consists of two crew leaders and seven youth trainees. The crew began on June 8 working on MMF-specific projects in Winnipeg, and projects in Selkirk & West St. Paul will begin soon. They will continue through to the end of September.
IMCT works with community organizations and residents with clean-up work and small building projects free of charge. Since 2009, IMCT has run every year for 15 weeks, with new crew members starting at each intake.