The city of Little Rock in Arkansas has now officially launched an initiative to pay homeless people minimum wage to pick up litter in the town.
According to The Hill, the minimum wage in the state was raised to $9.25 in January.
The scheme was devised earlier this year and has been through a six-month-long trial period to determine its effectiveness. However, according to British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail, Little Rock mayor Frank Scott Jr has been so impressed with the results that he has already proposed to extend the scheme through to September 2020.
Commenting on the concept’s success story, Pastor Paul Atkins, who manages the initiative through the Canvas Community Church, told 12 News Now: “We’re super excited about what has gone on, and we hope to be able to keep the momentum going.”
He continued: “We want to work with them on their next step. There are a lot of barriers that our people experience to go from homelessness and panhandling to full-time work. There’s a lot of steps in between.”
Meanwhile, local community leader Felecia Cooks stated: “I just knew. I never had a doubt. I never had a doubt because I knew our potential and I knew that we would get to this point. And so, it made me just want to just cry out with tears of joy.”
Approximately 380 people living rough have already signed up for the scheme, working in teams of eight people. The workers have already contributed an incredible 1,832 hours of combined work; filling more than 2,000 bags of trash.