Sydney
The Gillard Government will provide $5 million to Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets Outreach Programs as part of the $40 million National Crime Prevention Fund announced today.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare made the announcement at the Koch Centre for Youth in Macquarie Fields.
The Koch Centre was opened by Youth Off The Streets in January 2011. It is named in recognition of Libby and David Koch who have shown enormous commitment to helping disadvantaged young people turn their life around.
Youth Off The Streets began providing outreach services in Macquarie Fields in 2005 as a way of re-engaging young people in the area with the community, education and employment. Since that time, Police have reported a 40 per cent reduction in local crime levels.
Youth Off The Streets has achieved similar success engaging young people across New South Wales in communities like Kurri Kurri, East Cessnock, Griffith, Narrandera, Cranebrook, Blacktown, Bankstown and Doonside.
Youth Off The Streets targets young people aged between 12 and 21 and operates in areas where young people normally gather such as parks or sporting facilities. The service provides low key and positive diversionary activities that allow young people to interact and socialise as well as meet with youth workers.
The National Crime Prevention Fund, including the Youth Off The Streets component, will be funded from confiscated proceeds of crime.
The use of these funds will allow the expansion of the Outreach program to up to ten additional locations, expanding outreach services and reducing street crime.
“This investment from the Federal Government will enable us to reach out to several more struggling communities with a focus on education and employment programs,” Father Riley said.
“The young people in these areas face lives of marginalization, disadvantage, abuse, neglect, homelessness and family breakdown. By focusing on these areas, we can engage these young people in need of support, in creative, flexible and diverse activities and structured outcomes based programs that provide them with opportunities for them to grow and be part of their community.”
The funds will be used to employ additional youth workers, lease shopfronts in each of the additional locations, provide vehicles so the youth workers can meet young people at locations where they normally gather and purchase food supplies for the outreach programs.