Arkansas has been paying homeless people $9.25 an hour — two dollars more than the federal minimum wage — to pick up garbage around its state capital, Little Rock.
State capital pays homeless people $9.25 an hour to pick up street trash
The city of Little Rock, state capital of Arkansas, has adopted a resourceful means to address issues with both its homeless community as well as trash in its streets, and the results have been successful. The Bridge to Work program, which began in April, pays members of the homeless community $9.25 (€8.41/£7.41) an hour to clean up litter from its city streets. That’s two dollars more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
The City of Little Rock spent $80,000 on the program’s first six months
According to a 12 News Now report, the program has been run by Canvas Community Church. "We’re super excited about what has gone on, and we hope to be able to keep the momentum going,” pastor Paul Atkins said.
Those who participate in the program also receive mental and physical health services, help with job interviews and temporary housing. The goal isn’t necessarily spotless streets; it’s an opportunity for people to turn their fortunes around.
“We want to work with them on their next step," Atkins told the city’s board of directors last month. "There are a lot of barriers that our people experience to go from homelessness and panhandling to full-time work. There’s a lot of steps in between.”
According to Atkins, upwards of 380 people have participated in the program to date, with a many joining the work crews more than once.
The participants work in groups of eight, with most of them joining the program through the church. However, the teams leave at least one opening on the team should they encounter a panhandler on the cleaning route, with 44 out of 158 panhandlers encountered accepting the opportunity to work.
Since the program started five months ago, a total of 130 sites have been cleaned, with 1,821 hours worked, and 2,056 bags of trash and debris removed from city streets.
Source: FoxBusiness
A CLEAN SLATE: ONE TEXAS CITY IS PAYING ITS HOMELESS TO PICK UP TRASH
The city of Fort Worth, Texas, is paying its homeless citizens to pick up trash as part of program that hopes to clean up the city and turn lives around.
Clean Slate is a social enterprise initiative designed to erase the barriers that keep many homeless people from working and contributing to the community. The goal is to break the cycle of homelessness by providing steady employment that restores dignity and provides hope. Almost four thousand tons of litter was collected from the streets of Fort Worth by Clean Slate workers last year.
In 2015, Albuquerque, New Mexico, started paying panhandlers $9 an hour to pull weeds and clean up trash around the city, making it one of the first cities to offer such a program. More than 400 panhandlers took up the offer for work within 14 months of the program’s inception, and it has grown since.
In November of 2017, a Los Angeles City Council committee signed off a plan to create a similar program that would offer jobs to the homeless and address the more than 200 requests the city receives per day regarding trash issues. For more on this story, click here.
5 Ways to Help the Homeless (With Pictures)
There are lots of ways to help homeless people other than simply handing over cash. Donating food and clothing to homeless shelters is a great way to help. You could also volunteer your time with such an organisation. Educate yourself and others about homelessness, and share facts about homelessness with others. Use letters to your local newspaper, blog posts, and social media to spread the word about how homelessness is a problem and what others can do to help. Find out more here.