Supporting Wyndham’s vulnerable youth to help them avoid contact with the justice system is the aim of community safety grants awarded last week.
Awarded by the Wyndham Empowering Communities Local Action Group, the grants are a joint initiative of the state government and Wyndham council to deliver projects and activities that build a sense of community, help neighbourhoods feel safer, promote interfaith/intercultural understanding and improve community connections.
Among the successful recipients were: Wyndham Community and Education Centre, which received $75,000 for their Diverse Horizons Empowering
Multicultural Youth for Success project; Karuna Compassion in Action, which received $60,000 to assist young people in the Wyndham Karen refugee
community; $70,000 to Blue Light Victoria for a program for year five and six students and their families, focusing on safety and creating connections between police and
community; The Youth Junction Inc received $90,000 for
targeted youth service interventions for disadvantaged young people in the justice system and $75,000 to the Royal Children’s Hospital Community Development for a multi-arts workshop program for children from African backgrounds.
Wyndham mayor Susan McIntyre said she was excited by what the grant recipients could achieve.“This has been a wonderful initiative – firstly meeting with the community in 2022 to discuss community safety issues, then creating a Wyndham Empowering Communities Local Action Group that has guided this next step to help select the Community Safety Grants recipients,” Cr McIntyre said.
“I look forward to seeing the projects and activities these recipients will deliver.”
Tarneit MP Dylan Wright said the grants would deliver projects that were tailored for Wyndham.
“These projects are about finding local solutions to local crime and safety issues that matter to our community.”
All projects are expected to begin by mid next year.
More information: www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/services/community-support/community-support-services-programs/empowering-communities-grants
