Correspondent photo / Chris McBride Warren Councilwoman Honeya Price, D-6th Ward, relays a message across the street to other youth as they clean up alongside Nevada Avenue SW recently as part of the revived Trash Busters Program. The participants are being paid $25 an hour, but said they want to play an active role in beautifying their community.

WARREN — A group of young men from the 6th Ward fanned out recently along Nevada Avenue near the former Western Reserve Middle School picking up trash, whacking overgrown weeds and hauling debris from an area long used as a dumping ground.

Councilwoman Honeya Price, D-6th Ward, said she has revived the Trash Busters program, paying the young participants $25 an hour for two-hour shifts to clean corridors in the neighborhood while giving them a constructive way to earn money and stay off the streets.

“We started this program last year with only a couple kids, using our own money out of our pocket as a pilot,” Price said. “This year, we have eight kids plus a waiting list. We’re still looking for more funding to bring on other kids.”

The group began its work last week, focusing first on the Nevada Avenue site that residents say has been a persistent eyesore, as the young participants found items including a suitcase and the butt of a rifle.

Price said the crew plans to work two days a week to tackle problem areas across the ward.

Price, who first mentioned the initiative at a city council meeting, hopes to expand it citywide with municipal support.

“This right now is keeping kids off the street,” she said. “If we get them to work and pay them to do things, we’re showing them how you make money the right way… by doing community stuff.”

She said the program also will include weekly sessions on financial literacy and goal-setting led by volunteers.

Price said that many of the young participants come from families facing significant hardships, including absent parental figures and struggles with drug use.

Joseph Daniels, a 6th Ward resident and longtime neighbor of Price, volunteered to help with the cleanup. Daniels said Price had him doing similar work when he was a boy, and he wanted to give back.

“It’s always for a good cause,” Daniels said. “I’m giving back what somebody gave me. If you can help save one person’s life, you did a good job.”

Participants range in age from middle school to late teens.

Chris Provitt, 12, said he joined to help the environment and his community.

“This is our place. We’re supposed to pick up to help the community and not let the community hurt,” Provitt said.

Julian Johnson, 17, who lives nearby in Warren, has long made a habit of cleaning up around his neighborhood on his own. His father taught him to cut grass and he sees the work as natural.

“It just makes it like just ruining the city a little bit, making it all disgusting and dirty,” Johnson said of the trash-strewn areas. “This is our neighborhood and it needs to be cleaned up.”

Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership serves as the fiscal agent for the program.

Price said parents interested in enrolling their children can reach her through her Facebook page or the city government website.

With a waiting list of about 15 young people she said she is actively seeking additional funding to grow the effort.