Community grants help tackle youth offending in Mount Isa, Townsville

• Two new projects aimed at addressing the complex causes of youth crime in Mount Isa and Townsville will share in almost $430,000 in funding under the Palaszczuk Government’s Community Partnership Innovation Grants
• The funding will enable Queensland Youth Services will deliver its Proud Warrior project in Mount Isa and Townsville, while Save the Children (trading as 54 Reasons) will deliver a Back to Community program in Mount Isa.
• In total,12 projects will share in more than $3 million in funding in the second round of the Palaszczuk Government’s Community Partnership Innovation Grants.
• The local projects complement the wide range of government programs and initiatives aimed at tackling the complex causes of youth crime.

Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard today announced that two projects to be delivered in Mount Isa and Townsville are among 12 new projects to receive a Community Partnership Innovation Grant to tackle youth offending in Queensland.

Queensland Youth Services will receive almost $130,000 to deliver The Proud Warrior project in Mount Isa and Townsville. This project will provide intervention for primarily Indigenous young people who are at risk of disengaging from school, young people from low socio-economic households, and cases where young people are known, or their family is known, to police.

54 Reasons will receive $300,000 to deliver their ‘Back to Community’ reintegration program. The program will provide culturally responsive support for young people whose home country is Mount Isa, Doomadgee or Mornington Island when leaving the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Youth Justice Leanne Linard:

“Local communities are often the first to see when a young person disconnects from family, stops attending school or shows anti-social behaviour, all of which may contribute to a young person offending.

“When I meet with local community groups, they tell me they want to work with the Palaszczuk Government and put their local experience and knowledge to good use to help divert young people from crime.

“Our government’s Community Partnership Innovation Grants provides funding to enable them to do just that.”

Quotes attributable to Member for Mundingburra Les Walker:  

“The Palaszczuk Government is listening to the community and acting in response to youth crime.

“There is no quick fix, no silver bullet to fix youth crime. The Premier recently announced a comprehensive suite of measures to target serious repeat offenders, tackle the complex causes of youth crime and support community safety.

“This included an additional $100 million being invested in programs proven to make a difference.

“But the government can’t do it alone and we are committed to working with local community groups, like Queensland Youth Services and 54 Reasons, to deliver local programs that will make a difference.”

More information

For more information on the Community Partnership Innovation Grant scheme visit www.cyjma.qld.gov.au/about-us/our-department/funding-grants-investment/community-partnership-innovation-grants

Other projects to be delivered under Round 2 are:

• Brisbane – Lutheran Church ($300,000)
  Targeted holistic complex case coordination and intensive case management for at risk, vulnerable young people displaying offending behaviours. This project will target the underlying causes of criminal behaviours, focusing on social and emotional wellbeing.
• Brisbane – Beyond DV ($295,665)
  Holistic early intervention to young people affected by domestic and family violence, with the goal of reducing the impact of trauma and minimising the likelihood they will engage in criminal activity.
• Cairns – Selectability Limited ($259,331)
  An after-hours outreach and mentoring program in Earlville and Edmonton. It includes transportation to return young people home, and referrals for young people to connect them with existing cultural programs and key agencies.
• Cairns – Australian Training Works Group Pty Ltd ($299,423)
  An Indigenous Group Training Organisation that provides work readiness courses and builds young people’s skills for the workplace, such as communication, teamwork and other interpersonal skills.
• Hervey Bay – Marigurim Yalaam Indigenous Corporation for Community Justice ($298,980)
  A Rites of Passage framework which includes intensive support for young people over six weeks before attending a Rites of Passage camp, followed by another six weeks of assistance.
• Woorabinda – Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation ($300,000)
  A neuroscience-informed program for Aboriginal 10 to 18-year-olds on bail in Woorabinda, whose needs cannot be met by mainstream or alternative education and training programs.
• Logan – Youth Off The Streets ($293,500)
  Targeted and evidence-based interventions which caters for two main groups, young people leaving detention and returning to the community, and young people who need to re-engage with education.  Cultural groups in Logan who will benefit from the program include First Nations, Pasifika and African communities.
• Toowoomba – Adam Wenitong ($142,483)
  An intensive 30-week immediate response for re-offending young people, including a seven-month cultural project that will provide cultural mentoring and connection to the First Nations community.
• Toowoomba – Raw Impact ($300,000)
  Cultural connection over an intensive period of seven weeks for at-risk young people, with the option of ongoing engagement in meaningful cultural activities and projects that support the rejuvenation of native title land at the Yumba.
• Goondiwindi – Winangali Infusion - $300,000
  ‘The Block’ provides young people in Goondiwindi, and in the New South Wales border towns of Boggabila and Toomelah with a safe and supervised community hub for pro-social opportunities, cultural education, recreational activities and more.

Media Contact: Scott Chandler - 07 3719 7339