People with challenges finding employment will be helping clean downtown Peterborough this summer beginning in June.
The One City Peterborough program was originally launched in 2018 as an initiative of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) in partnership with the Warming Room Community Ministries.
The 2018 program saw 13 people with various barriers to employment hired to help clean the downtown core, along with a pair of outreach workers to to reach out to vulnerable people in the area.
This year, clients of One City Peterborough will join workers with Clint’s Property Maintenance to assist with cleaning the downtown during the summer months.
The One City Peterborough “clean team” will be in downtown Peterborough during the day with cleaning carts to sweep sidewalks, pick up litter, remove old posters from lampposts, safely disposing of discarded needles, and other small cleaning tasks.
In 2019, the DBIA issued a new request for proposals for its downtown streetscape maintenance contract, with a request that proposals include a social enterprise component. In January, the DBIA awarded the contract to Clint’s Property Maintenance in partnership with One City Peterborough.
“We’re excited to have One City Peterborough back,” says DBIA executive director Terry Guiel. “This partnership with Clint’s Property Maintenance shows what organizations can do when they add social procurement into their contracts.”
“Not only are we going to end up with a cleaner downtown, but we’re going to help who really need it,” Gueil says. “We’re going to make downtown stronger.”
The One City Peterborough program aims to help people with barriers to employment to get back into the workforce, including connecting team members with local employment agencies and potential employers.
One City Peterborough, which was among 10 charities to receive $200,000 in funding in April from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough and United Way Peterborough & District’s COVID-19 Community Response Fund, also provides supportive housing for small groups of previously homeless people.
For more information about One City Peterborough, visit onecityptbo.ca.
