LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- An initiative to pay a city's homeless population to pick up trash and be paid minimum wage has done so well it will continue another year.
Not only are the homeless who are tasked with cleaning up their city getting paid, they're also receiving mental and physical health services and job interviews.
Some have also found temporary housing.
There are 380 homeless people who have signed up to work in teams of eight. Seven spots are filled on each team when the crews go out, with the final position earmarked for someone who is a panhandler who wants to join the route, according to KTHV.
Over the 5-month period that the program was active, the teams cleaned 130 sites, worked 1,821 hours and collected 2,056 bags of trash,KTHV reported.
Each worker gets paid $9.25 an hour and the program is run throughCanvas Community Church.
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