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Funding for organisations to help young people at-risk
Youth Empowerment Program
Opening date: Tuesday 7 January 2025 10:00am AEDT Tue 7 Jan 2025 10:00am AEDT
Closing date: Tuesday 28 January 2025 5:00pm AEDT Tue 28 Jan 2025 5:00pm AEDT
What do you get?
A grant of between $300,000 and $1 million to cover up to 100% of eligible expenditure.
Who is this for?
An incorporated association or an incorporated not-for-profit organisation.
About the program
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.
Check if you can apply
You can apply if you meet the eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria are a set of rules that describe who we can consider for this grant. You can apply if you:
- are an eligible entity
- have an eligible project
- have eligible expenditure.
The rules are in the grant opportunity guidelines.
You can apply if you:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- have an account with an Australian financial institution
And are one of the following entities:
- an incorporated association
- an incorporated not-for-profit organisation.
You can’t apply if you are:
- an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
- an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
- an organisation currently receiving funding under the Commonwealth’s U25-GO grant program
- an individual
- a partnership
- an unincorporated association
- a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a Commonwealth, state, territory or local government body (including government business enterprises)
- a non-corporate Commonwealth entity
- an organisation undergoing debt recovery action or that has been defunded by state, territory or Australian Government agencies for performance and/or integrity reasons
- an organisation currently under voluntary or involuntary administration.
Additional eligibility requirement
You will also be required to provide a letter from your board or governing committee (or CEO if there is no board or committee) that confirms that your organisation delivers or has delivered programs that engage young people at-risk of engaging in crime or anti-social behaviour.
Partner with other organisations
Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
The lead organisation must fill out the application form.
If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:
- signs the grant agreement
- is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.
You must complete your project by 31 March 2027
Your project must:
- be located in Australia
- include one or more youth engagement activities which may occur at a single or multiple locations
- have at least $300,000 in eligible expenditure.
You can apply for a grant between $300,000 and $1 million.
For guidance on eligible expenditure, refer to Appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines.
How to apply
Check if you’re ready to apply for a grant
Finding a suitable grant opportunity is just the start of the process to get funding. The application process can take time and effort. Understanding the entire process will help you be grant ready and may improve your chances of getting funding.
Use our checklist to find out what it takes to apply for a grant.
When you're ready to apply
Apply using our online portal:
- Create or log into your portal account.
- Follow the instructions to complete your application.
- Submit your application before the close date.
Make sure you include enough detail and supporting evidence in your application to help us decide whether to award you the grant.
Don’t submit the application until it’s complete. You can’t correct a mistake.
First we check that you meet the eligibility criteria. Then we assess your application against the assessment criteria.
The assessment criteria are a set of rules that describe how we must assess each application.
We give each criterion a certain number of points.
- Assessment criterion 1: The extent that your project will contribute to positive outcomes for youth and divert them from the criminal justice system (45 points)
- Assessment criterion 2: How your project represents value for money (30 points)
- Assessment criterion 3: Your capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (25 points)
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested.
The Attorney-General makes the final decision.
Contact
Need help?
Let us answer your question over the phone, email or live chat.
- Phone:
-
Open Hours:
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
- Website:
Key documents
Board or CEO eligibility letter template
docx · 0.03 MB