YAPA media release: 6 May 2011
MEDIA RELEASE
The peak organisation representing young people and youth services in NSW has applauded the announcement by the new Minister for Citizenship and Communities, Victor Dominello, that youth services left in administrative limbo by the previous government would be able to continue their work with vulnerable young people.
Chief Executive of Youth Action and Policy Association NSW (YAPA), Reynato Reodica, said “we were extremely disappointed when the former government failed to sign off on $9million in Better Futures funding before they lost the powers to do so.”
The Better Futures program was introduced in response to the 1999 NSW Drug Summit, and delivers grants to community groups to build resilience in vulnerable and at risk children and young people aged 9-18 years, who might otherwise disengage from community, school, family and friends.
YAPA as the peak organisation has members including services who deliver Better Futures programs as well as young people supported by them, has worked to highlight to the new government that the failure of the previous government to allocate these grants when they had the chance had left many youth services across NSW in a state of uncertainty, not knowing whether their successful projects would continue and if they would have to tell their existing clients that support would dry up in just two months.
Mr Reodica stated he was grateful that their pleas were heard by the new Minister as he promised that the new government was “not going to leave the pre-existing programs that are up and running now in the lurch”, as the previous government had done.
Minister Dominello made his statements at The Future of Youth Affairs Forum hosted by YAPA yesterday afternoon. The Minister announced that rolling over the existing programs for 6 months was required to give the government an opportunity to talk with young people and the youth sector to re-evaluate the funding stream to ensure it is the best deal for NSW young people and youth services.
In response, Mr Reodica stated “whilst we think that $9 million could have gone a long way to support some of our most vulnerable young people, but we understand that the Minister needs to balance getting the money out there with feeling confident that public money is being best used to tackle issues for our youth.
“This news from the new state government gives us faith that they have the best interests of NSW young people and youth services in mind. We applaud this announcement and look forward to engaging with the new government in the future development of this program.”
Manager of Mountains Youth Services Team, Damian Cooper, is extremely impressed with this announcement as it gives the service, the young people, and the Blue Mountains community the reassurance and support they were asking for.
Mr Cooper, who attended the Forum stated “Not being able to tell the high schools we had been working with whether we could continue our work with them in 2011 was really disappointing, and we are extremely pleased that we are going to be able to move forward following this announcement.”
Media contact
Reynato Reodica
YAPA Chief Executive – 02 9281 5522 ext 1, 0416 929 252