As part of the Safer Communities Fund, the organisation will receive an early intervention grant of $345,568 to go toward providing an early intervention program, targeting the gap between prevention and crisis management.
The Bridge Youth Service chief executive Melinda Lawley said the program would be based at the Wallan Youth Hub, with potential to take it to Shepparton at a later point.
She said the weekly after-school program would provide a safe and inclusive space for young people at risk of offending, with group sizes of about 15 young people.
“It’s been wonderful to receive the early intervention program funding. We’ve been trying to seek it for a long time,” she said.
“It will help us to work on when we see their vulnerability rather than in crisis, allow our staff to work a bit earlier and have an impact.”
The target for The Bridge is to have 175 young people complete the term-long program over two years.
“It’s a program to build skills and connect them to the community, to good mentors and potentially work opportunities depending on their age,” Ms Lawley said.
“What we hope is that young people can identify what they want to learn about and we can bring some specialists. It will definitely have some co-design elements.”
The Bridge Youth Service is designed to be an access point for advice, programs and information for young people with offices in Shepparton, Wallan and Seymour and staff in Cobram.
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