Celebration planned as reborn Inuvik Works turns one

The Inuvik Works program is preparing to celebrate its first anniversary, which organizers say will mark a year of job training and community impact.

Inuvik Works is designed to help people who aren’t in the local workforce find their way back to employment, with assistance where needed. It comes with an associated thrift store.

The program is the second edition of an initiative that previously ran in Inuvik years ago.

Program manager Patricia Davison said the renewed Inuvik Works met its primary goals in 2025, including getting a crew operational and launching the Next 2 New thrift shop.

An in-store gathering to acknowledge those achievements is expected in late May or early June.

According to Davison, one of the most significant outcomes has been waste diversion. More than 21,000 lb of donated materials were moved away from the landfill, she said.

Davison said that volume of donations far exceeded early expectations and eventually required that some items be redirected to nearby communities like Paulatuk, Ulukhaktok, Sachs Harbour and Fort McPherson.

The thrift store also proved financially successful in its first year, generating just over $41,000 in sales between July and March.

“For the first year of a thrift store, that exceeded our expectation,” Davison told Cabin Radio. “It’s been a pretty successful year.”

The program says it supported 429 drop-in visits, providing the likes of clothing and snacks, and assisted 250 Elders and people with disabilities, including regular check-ins with 17 Elders.

Since its launch, Inuvik Works has delivered 16 training programs for participants covering basic computer skills, trades, employment readiness, first aid, food safety, and other workplace-focused courses.

Davison said roughly 900 people participated in events over the year, with the National Day of the Girl open house standing out as one of the most well-attended. She noted the event also drew new, younger customers to the thrift store.

“People really liked the basic computer training and trade essentials training. Participants really appreciated all of them but particularly those two – they speak of how much they learned,” she said.

“The participants have been very thankful and a number of them talk about how they thought they were going to get a job, but it was so much more, all the training and all the support and growth and learning that they had on so many different levels.”

Despite the positive outsomes, Davison said some participants faced personal and life-related barriers that made consistent participation difficult, and building trust and a sense of belonging among crew members took time.

Developing stability within the program remains an ongoing process, she said.

While the first year was supported by a mix of funding sources – including the Town of Inuvik, Government of the Northwest Territories, CIBC, Northern Women’s Grant and partner organization MentorAbility – some of that support was one-time funding.

The program is waiting to hear back on additional territorial government funding.

“When you’re a new project, everybody’s excited and offers support. As we grow and develop, then it’s harder to get reoccurring multi-year funding,” Davison said.

“To make the year a success, we kind-of dug around and found pots of money here, there and everywhere. Some of those funding streams are only one-time funding streams. It becomes trickier to sustain the project beyond the first year.

“I think that’s going to be the challenge in this year, to be able to find the funds to keep it going.”