On Tuesday we heard a presentation from Megah Tornwe and Roanne Varden on the Working Warriors program. This program is a collaboration between the Edmonton Police Service, Edmonton Public Schools and the Bent Arrow Healing Society in Edmonton. It was conceived a few years ago as a way to help young people, ages twelve to seventeen, transition from correctional services back into society, to become employed or further their education, and become contributing, productive citizens with crime free lifestyles. The program came about because Edmonton Police Services surveys had noted that a large number of offences are often committed by a small number of offenders. They reasoned that if they could especially help young offenders in this category, that they would be able to give these young people a much better life and reduce crime and its associated costs at the same time. For several years now, the police service has identified the top fifty young offenders (Y-50) and have tried various intervention approaches.
The Working Warriors program was begun in conjunction with the Bent Arrow Healing Society in 2016 as a pilot project and received one point six million in funding from Service Canada to provide services to fifty-four youth over a period of two years. The youth who are referred to take part in the program come from very diverse backgrounds, with many confounding risk factors, usually starting in early childhood, so the support services provided are very wide ranging. They are a mix of young people who are in custody, on probation, or sometimes neither. Assessments are done and continually updated so that the program is tailored for each participant, to provide the services that they require and also those they have an interest in. These may include housing assistance, addictions counselling, conflict resolution training, life skills training, work ethics training, resume writing, educational courses (provided by Edmonton Public Schools), and specific job-related training and employment opportunities. The program also covers wages at minimum wage for up to three months for employers willing to provide work experience. They also provide support to keep the young people on track and intervene as needed to give them every chance to succeed.
The program is completely voluntary on the part of the participants. Candidates are recommended for the program by a Y-50 constable and undergo a needs assessment, including CASEY Life Skills testing . There is a two- week probationary period to ensure participants are committed to taking part. A three-month period then follows where the participants attend training in the program for two days a week and either attend school or take part in work experience for three days a week. The program is designed to last for up to one year for each participant with follow up for longer in some cases. The measure of success is either full time hired employment or schooling combined with a crime free lifestyle. As of February this year, one year from inception, they have provided services for seventy youth with a success rate of over sixty five percent. They concluded their presentation with a quote from Churchill, saying ‘The definition of success, is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm’. Their goal is to give these young people the skills and also the will they need to succeed in life.
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