The Just Workers program celebrated a milestone this year - $100,000 paid out to victims of crime.
The program was founded in 2003. It allows youth convicted of crimes that don't have a job to pay restitution for damages to their victims and get work experience, with the goal of helping them get a full-time job and stay out of the court system.
The work is simple - it includes snow shovelling or garden work for local seniors, janitorial work as well as maintenance at the Little Red River Park and the Prince Albert RCMP detachment - but the skills act as a bridge to a better life, said support worker Pat Martin.
"The bulk of the youth we get don't have any job skills. They've never had jobs. So we're their first job," she said. "They actually learn job skills through us through actually working, through getting up on time and getting to work and getting into a schedule."
Since beginning in 2003, the program has now served more than 800 people, who also have the opportunity to keep working with the program after they pay off their restitution in order to earn a quarter of the restitution amount for themselves.
Through that, another $25,000 has been earned by the youth themselves, which Martin said acts as an incentive for them to keep working.
The funding comes from Heritage Canada and the Department of Corrections, Public Safety and Policing.
Operating out of the Prince Albert Métis Women's Association office on 10th Street East, they also do all the services of a job centre, helping with resumes, interview preparations, job applications and providing life-skills training for youth long after they finish the program, as well as providing transportation as many youth can't drive.
"There's a lot of support services that won't be written down here, but there's a lot of hands-on work we do," said Martin.
Aside from paying back victims, the program also allows youth to meet their court ordered conditions where they otherwise might not be able to, which prevents further charges.
And it's won support from many of the agencies and people they work with, including Marcella Garson, alternative measures case worker with the Prince Albert Grand Council.
"(The youth) are taking responsibility for what they've done and they're accountable for it. They have to work it off," she said. "They're monitored very closely by their workers and they do work."
Many of the written youth testimonials also talk about improving self respect and enjoying their work, including one youth who wrote, "I've met and worked with staff who've given me respect and, in turn, I gave them respect and they made me feel comfortable working ... Without this program, I don't know where I would be in my life."
