“Odd Jobs,” established by PROJECTS in 1979, developed as an outgrowth of the organization’s “Knox County Youth Employment Training Program.” The participants, who had been developing employment skills through community service work, approached PROJECTS with a proposal: “Can we start getting paid for the work we’re doing?” Impressed by the kids’ initiative, the PROJECTS staff came back with an even better offer: “Not only will you get paid for the work, we’ll include you in the running of the business.”

Thus with a little seed money from PROJECTS, interested employment training program participants created their own small business, “Odd Jobs,” that specialized in maintenance jobs around the community. “They did everything from tearing down old chicken coops to stacking wood for elderly people,” recalls Perry Gates of PROJECTS.

To operate the business, the kids helped track expenses, place advertisements, and bill clients. The program served as an entrepreneurial “boot camp” of sorts, and the participants quickly learned that the best way to get clients was through creative marketing: one week running an advertisement for the new “rent-a-kid” service in town.

By 1981, the Community Service Project (“CSP,” later “YouthLinks”) was underway with a large number of midcoast students participating in community service work. To encourage participants to volunteer more of their time, CSP and PROJECTS staff decided to offer an incentive: for every 150 hours of volunteer work, students earned 20 hours of paid “Odd Jobs” work.

By linking “Odd Jobs” with “CSP” and boosting total volunteer hours, PROJECTS was able to strengthen CSP’s value to the community. The combination benefited the students as well, allowing them to experience the different sense of reward from volunteer service versus paid payment. It also gave them the opportunity to participate in the basics of operations, something they weren’t able to do at CSP. While a PROJECTS staff member was required to be present during “Odd Jobs” planning or at a job site, their role was that of supervisor, not teacher.

“The real educational value was in the struggles of the business experience,” recalls Gates. “Who’s keeping the equipment clean? How are we getting to the next job site? What can we do to make this client happy?