Sudbury Action Centre for Youth cuts employment program after 32 years

An employment program that has helped vulnerable members of the community for more than three decades has been temporarily shelved by the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY), due to a lack of funding.

The Casual Labour Program was established by SACY founder Jimi Park in 1986 and became the foundation for the organization, which now provides other youth programming and harm reduction services.

"The employment program has always been really unique in terms of its service delivery," Catherine Savarie, the executive director for SACY, said.

The program has been a bridge for people looking to re-enter the workforce, Savarie explained.

Participants could come to the action centre in the morning and find jobs within the community through private residents or businesses, doing everything from shovelling snow to painting or working in an office for a few days.

'Meeting them where they were at'

Savarie said the program has been very meaningful for the people who have taken advantage of it over the years, some of whom struggle with mental health and addiction.

"They were able to access employment opportunities and work and their own pace. It was meeting them where they were at, in terms of their healing journey," she said.

"We've had a lot of success with people who have been a part of the program for a number of years and then moved on and found employment, and are quite successful and doing very well right now."

Because of the program's unique delivery model, Savarie said it had become difficult to find funding over the years, and although it's sad to see it go for now, the centre is hopeful it can revive the program in the future.

"Things change, and they change sometimes quite rapidly, so we're just waiting for that opportunity where a program such as this will become viable again."

Savarie said the goal is to find a more secure source of funding, that can help the program be more sustainable in the long run.