Funding for organisations to help young people at-risk

The Youth Empowerment Program will provide funding to organisations for programs for youth aged 10 to 17 who are engaged in, or at-risk of becoming engaged in, criminal and/or anti-social behaviour.

The Youth Empowerment Program will provide funding of $28.377 million to organisations for programs for youth aged 10 to 17 who are engaged in, or at-risk of becoming engaged in, criminal and/or anti-social behaviour. It is expected that activities will be aimed at the participation of young people at-risk aged between 10 to17 to reduce the incidence of low-level engagement in criminal activity and decrease recidivism rates.

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to:

• provide alternative pathways for young people who are at risk of being engaged in criminal and/or anti-social behaviour
• enable young people at-risk to break patterns of recidivism and cyclical engagement in criminal activity
• help young people at-risk to develop life skills to prevent them from becoming entrenched in the criminal justice system, to promote inclusion, build community resilience and strengthen family support structures.

The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are:

• improved engagement of young people at-risk in education, work ready programs and the community more generally
• decrease anti-social behaviour or engagement in criminal activity and an increase in positive community and family engagement
• reduce the incidence of low-level engagement in criminal activity by young offenders and decrease recidivism rates among the same cohort.