Shane Cuthbert's Change the World Foundation has long advocated for a 24-hour youth centre in Cairns and we have just applied for the Queensland Government’s Community Partnership Innovation Grant! The Queensland Government sought to engage local communities, businesses and organisations to support the trial of new ideas and projects that address youth offending and related issues in the priority areas of Brisbane, Logan, Cairns, Townsville, Moreton Bay, Ipswich and the Gold Coast. The over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in the criminal justice system is at an unacceptable level in Cairns. With remand rates rising and community outrage over the youth crime epidemic growing. This program proposes to operate from 9pm until 9am on week nights and 24 hours over the weekend. The program will operate within a functional program space using case management to provide much needed support and address the needs of the child and refer the individual to day time programs. The program will aim to work over the weekends and peak times that criminal activity is noted to spike (12am-2am) with outreach a key component. We have overwhelming support locally from business owners, victims of crime, youth and social services who have expressed a strong interest to support our program through donations, volunteering and advocacy. Currently, there is no such program available in Cairns. There are no services operating during these crucial times and the needs of the community are not adequately addressed.
Thankyou to all the amazing supporters and volunteers who have signed on recently, this cannot be done without strong community support!