North Preston's Future aims to create change in the community

If you type "North Preston's Finest" into Google,you'll likely come up with references to a crime gang, but some people in North Preston, N.S., want to change that.

NPF is now the acronym for a new groupcalled North Preston's Future. Twelve teens and young adults are getting paid to do work around their community this summer.

"We're gonna claim back that name because it really doesn't belong to anybody, so now it belongs to this ... organization and it belongs to the community," Miranda Cain, the woman behind this new group, told CBC's Information Morning.

'I am North Preston's Finest'

Cain started out calling the groupNorth Preston's Finest, but it now goes by North Preston's Future. You can't have the future without the finest, Cain said.

"What nobody's really getting is that when we're proud of something we do, whatever it is, we're North Preston's Finest," Cain said.

"I am North Preston's Finest. My mom, who's 70 years old, is North Preston's Finest. Our Pastor is North Preston's Finest."

North Preston's Futureis looking out for the community.

"I want ourkids to have a better future," Cain said. "We wanna empower each other. And we wanna be proud to be where we're from."

Community work

Cain applied for funding from the Canada Revenue Agency and didn't think she'd get it because of stereotypes around the name of the group.

The funding came through for fivejobs. Cain put out the calland 14resumes came in. Cain didn'twant to turn anyone away, so she found extra funding so everyone who applied could get a job.

The teens and young adults areworking with the Clean Foundation, helpingcommunity members with deed issues, working on a community census, spending time with seniors and picking up garbage and recycling.

The experience is proving to be valuable for participants.

"I'm teaching them you work for your money. You learn some trades. You update your resume. You respect others. You learn to speak in public,"said Cain.

June Beals, 19, is a second-year political science student atSt. Francis Xavier University, and works withNorth Preston's Future. This is her firstcommunity-related job.

'A very close-knit community'

"I don't like to talk at allso going into homes and speaking to the elders, and learning their stories, I get to communicate with them and be a journalist in some kind of way, which I'm not used to doing, so it's good," she said.