By Jennifer Meek, Director of Marketing at Charlotte Products Ltd
Our Charlotte Cares Program is always looking for ways we can help support communities across Canada and the U.S. to create safer, healthier spaces through philanthropy, volunteerism and knowledge transfer. That’s why we are so excited to share the details of our latest initiative, which helped support a wonderful Peterborough based organization, One City.
One City Peterborough is a local nonprofit that focuses on housing, food security, community safety and inclusion. The organization runs many innovative programs across the community toward these missions, from providing housing to providing work training to community members transitioning out of homelsessness or criminalization .
The One City Clean Team was the perfect program for us to support. This program hires community members looking for work to become part of a team of professional cleaners who serve residential and commercial properties throughout the community. One City Clean Team provides employment opportunities for people experiencing transition, but it also helps train workers and build their skills and knowledge for a lifetime career in public health and helps create safe and clean spaces for the entire community.
That’s why we opened up our brand-new, state-of-the-art Charlotte Training Center for a half day of education, product demos and hands-on training. These sessions focused on our Enviro-Solutions Green Certified products (which we donated to the program), safety information and proper cleaning procedures to ensure the best results for One City Clean Team clients. Our distributor partner Swish Maintenance also donated top of the line cleaning equipment to the program to support their professional cleaning services.
One City provides an employment facilitator who journeys with staff as they learn the work, identifies strengths and weaknesses and helps workers transition to further learning experiences and job opportunities. This is such a unique program because it allows workers to train toward a career in the cleaning industry. We were honored to partner with One City to help provide greater opportunities not only for career advancement for our Peterborough neighbors, but also for cleaner, safer spaces for our entire community.
The One City Clean Team is an extension of a short-term summer employment season that One City started in the summer of 2020, which focused on providing seasonal work that focused on cleaning downtown Peterborough. The Clean Team builds on the momentum and success of that program, providing more permanent work opportunities for those who need it most.
“Employment is a valuable way to build relationships, foster belonging and dignity, and to provide income that can address people’s basic needs,” says a Facebook post by One City Peterborough. “Our staff have already noted that they feel a sense of dignity and pride in providing a clean and safe space for our clients. During this COVID-19 health crisis, we find that providing clean spaces is not only a way to promote safety, but to show care and compassion.”
The Charlotte Cares program is a company-wide initiative that encourages our team to volunteer in the local community and collectively participate in making a difference. We aim to inspire others to participate in creating safe, healthy spaces for everyone, especially community members in need. We are always looking for ways we can use our experience to help support innovative programs in our community and communities across North America. Reach out to us directly to let us know about your community program and how Charlotte Cares can help!