$80,000 boost for drug fight

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
15 February 2004

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$80,000 boost for drug fight

By Damir Govorcin

Youth Off the Streets is one of three Catholic welfare organisations to receive funding of $80,000 each from the Federal Government as part of an education program to combat illegal drug use among the young.

The Sydney-based Youth Off The Streets, Mercy Family Services in Queensland and Mary of the Cross Centre in Melbourne were among 89 non-government bodies to receive funding under the government’s national illicit drug strategy program, Tough on Drugs.

Announcing the $6.6 million in funding allocations, Prime Minister John Howard said it was part of the Tough on Drugs Community Partnerships initiative to deliver a range of early intervention and education projects to prevent illicit drug use.

Youth Off The Streets will put the $80,000 towards the maintenance and further development of its Airds Bradbury youth leadership project over the next two years.

The program, which takes in the south-western Sydney areas of Airds, Bradbury, Ruse and Rose Meadow near Campbelltown, aims to reduce illicit drug use and related criminal activities among eight-to-18-year-olds through the provision of structured recreational activities and a youth leadership program called Positive Peer Culture.

Further development of the project will include an increase in the number of community volunteers, the increase of the number of recreational nights per week and the continuation of youth leadership camps and school holiday activities.

Community members in the Airds area originally approached Youth Off The Streets in 2001 to help implement a program of recreational outreach activities and resources for its youth.

The area was plagued by problems such as an increase in drug availability, a high youth crime rate, lack of structured recreational and transport services and a large number of expulsions from school due to anti-social behaviour and drug use.

After consultation with the local community, Youth Off The Streets began a program at the Airds Bradbury Youth Centre including regular sporting activities, barbecues, music, dance, video screening and special holiday events.

The program had to be suspended after a year, though, because of lack of funding.

But in response to community demand, outreach activities were re-launched in 2002. Since then the number of youth involved in the twice weekly evening activities has risen from 25 to 60.

The evening program has significantly reduced anti-social behaviour and petty crime in the area.

The Federal Government has committed more than $1 billion to the Tough on Drugs program since 1997 and there is evidence that the strategy is producing results.

The 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Survey reported a 23 per cent reduction in the number of people using illicit drugs.

And there has been a 67 per cent reduction since 1999 in heroin-related deaths of people aged 15 to 55.