The Government's Community Max scheme has come under fire for wasting millions of taxpayer dollars for no end result.
But that's not true for the Government-funded schemes that operated in the Wanganui region, say local project leaders.
The Community Max programme paid the minimum wage to young people aged 16-24 working 30 hours a week for six months on projects for the benefit of the community or environment.
The Wanganui region saw 27 Community Max projects undertaken, employing 75 young people.
Projects included museum cataloguing, digitisation, expanding community recreation, animal control surveying, weed eradication and graffiti removal.
Pamela Roy was the project manager for the Ake Ake project, which was jointly funded by the Wanganui District Council and Community Max.
The outcome of their work, which was primarily to create a new youth centre in Castlecliff, is due to open in the next few months.
The three young people gained skills including painting, carving, gardening, labouring, and building.
The youths studied for, and achieved, their learners' licences and first aid certificates, and undertook NZQA-accredited papers at the Whanganui Learning Centre. They also learned about health and safety in the workplace and studied the Treaty of Waitangi.
At the end they had a tangible result to their hard work, a vibrant youth centre for the community created from the empty, grey building they started with, Ms Roy said.
All three went into employment after leaving the course and the experience gained from the project was the first thing listed on their CV.
Just being able to work and have an income gave them self-esteem, and spending their own money was great for them, too, she said.
Ms Roy said she had noticed a change in all the youths during the programme. There was a tangible shift in their attitudes when they thought couldn't do something, then realised that they could, she said.
Wai Ora Christian Community Trust kaiwhakahaere John Coffey said the Te Huri Noa programme they ran achieved "a whole heap of work".
The four boys' main job was to relocate the community gardens at Te Mana Park to Wai Ora. They first had to prepare the site, an old dumping ground, level and sow the area, which they planted with 86 fruit and nut trees.
They also built a 40-metre manuka fence, planted native plants around the orchard and built a ponga-lined walkway.
The benefit for the boys, Wai Ora and the community were huge, and they would be reaping the rewards for years to come, Mr Coffey said.
Of the four, two boys went into employment.
It was their understanding that the aim of Community Max was to give work experience to young people and benefit the community, he said.
The boys developed a work ethic, had to turn up every day, sober, clean and on time, and work a full day, he said.
"It would have been nice to have 100 per cent in work, but they learned a hell of a lot."
Mr Coffey said at the time there was also high unemployment, so it also came down to what jobs were available.
Museum archivist Sandi Black said the four workers funded by Community Max and the Whanganui Community Foundation also achieved a lot. They were tasked with digitising some 40,000 photos and negatives, scanning, data logging and entering each piece into a digital archive.
The team managed to get through about a third of the huge project in the six months they were working, digitising about 12,000 images.
During that time, they learned technical skills, working scanners and computers, museum cataloguing, attention to detail and research skills.
After the work scheme finished, two of the workers went to university, one got a job and another was looking to make a part-time job permanent.
Without the help from the Community Max workers, the museum would probably only be a couple of thousand photos into the project, Mrs Black said.
Mrs Black said the museum was still hoping to get additional funding to help complete the project.
When it is finished, the images would be loaded on to the museum's website so the public could access and order copies from the archives.
Ministry of Social Development Regional Commissioner Gloria Campbell said Community Max was a solution to address youth inactivity in a time of recession.
"The scheme mobilised a lot of young people locally and the majority of them have gone on to either work, training or study or returned to school, while some have gone overseas for employment."
Mrs Campbell said all the young people involved in the projects built up skills and experience and developed good work ethics.
"All the organisations we engaged with did a good job, and for us the programme was a success," she said.
The Ministry of Social Development has promised a breakdown of the number of youths who went into work following the schemes.
The Chronicle will publish the information as it is available.
Community projects a success
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