Targeted Responses to Youth Crime grants

Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland District

COMPASS provides case management support for young people at risk or in contact with the youth justice system. Up to 40 young people aged 10–17 and their families will receive support for up to 6 months, with focus on addressing the underlying causes of offending, helping young people and families navigate complex challenges.

Location: Moreton Bay

Mareeba Community Centre Inc.

Youth Connections & Night Patrol Service provides intensive case management support and night patrols targeting at-risk young people in Mareeba. It includes intensive Monday to Friday case management for around 30 young people aged 10–25, providing guidance and support, as well as night patrols three nights a week between 7–10pm, offering a safe presence in the community.

Location: Mareeba Shire

Mission Australia

Deadly Me offers a 14-week cultural capability program for at-risk Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 8–17 in Mareeba Shire and Tablelands. Facilitated by Aboriginal Elders, the program covers history, identity, belonging, family values, and accountability, and concludes with an on-country camp. It operates after hours and targets young people transitioning from detention, on Youth Justice orders, engaged in the youth justice system, or at risk of offending, including young women, with a minimum of 40 participants.

Location: Mareeba Shire, Tablelands

BUSY at Work

BUSY Step Up is an adolescent family violence intervention program addressing youth violence and abuse towards family members or intimate partners. The program supports a minimum of 40 young people aged 10–17 over 12 months, offering one-on-one case management and outreach. Sessions include making a safety plan, understanding warning signs, assertive communication, and problem-solving.

Location: Townsville

Save the Children Australia

Specialist Youth Violence Prevention (SYVP) is a 12-month project in Mt Isa and Doomadgee that targets young men aged 13–18 who use or are at risk of using intimate partner violence(IPV). Delivered in partnership with Natjul Indigenous Performing Arts, the program uses culturally responsive approaches, mentoring, and one-on-one support to change young men's attitudes and behaviour towards IPV and build healthier relationships.

Location: Doomadgee Aboriginal Shire, Mount Isa

Domestic Violence Prevention Centre Gold Coast Inc.

Holding Hope, Creating Change is an early intervention program for young people aged 5–17 who use violence against their family members. It prioritises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and offers whole-family wrap-around support through care coordination and trauma-informed education. The program employs two practitioners who provide weekly or fortnightly sessions, focusing on communication skills and safety planning. Caseworkers manage up to 10 cases each.

Location: Gold Coast

Adam Wenitong Adapt Mentorship and Consultancy

In Country Kinnection is a 48-week transformative crime prevention project held at Gummingurru Traditional Site. It integrates elements of Landcare, Lore, Cultural identity, mentorship, and community development. Five very high-risk First Nations young men will receive intensive cultural mentoring, including two days per week of on-country mentoring, to improve cultural connectedness.

Location: Toowoomba

Carbal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services Ltd.

CULTUREGUARD: Youth Harmony Program is an 8-month cultural safety training initiative for professionals working with young people in the justice system. Delivered online and in-person, the program is similar in structure to mental health first aid, equipping professionals to address criminogenic behaviour and tailor responses to the unique needs of young people aged 10–13 and young women at risk.

Location: Goondiwindi, Southern Downs, Toowoomba

IFYS Ltd.

The RESET Program supports young people aged 10–16 with intensive case management and outreach. It aims to serve up to 50 young people who interact with police and courts, offering focused support over the funding period. Additionally, the outreach component provides brief support, referrals, and psycho-social or social engagement opportunities to a further 100 young people, fostering positive connections within the youth justice system.

Location: Sunshine Coast

Compass – Lutheran Community Care
Targeted holistic complex case coordination and intensive case management for at-risk, vulnerable young people displaying offending behaviours. This project will target the underlying causes of criminal behaviours, focusing on social and emotional wellbeing.
Location: Moreton Bay

HOPE 4 Life – Holistic Recovery for Young People Impacted by Domestic and Family Violence
Holistic early intervention to young people affected by domestic and family violence, with the goal of reducing the impact of trauma and minimising the likelihood they will engage in criminal activity.
Location: Brisbane

The Yili Program – Yiliyapinya Indigenous Corporation
A neuroscience-informed program for Aboriginal 10 to 18-year-olds on bail in the Inala area whose needs cannot be met by mainstream or alternative education and training programs.
Location: Inala

Fire Project – Selectability
An after-hours outreach and mentoring program in Earlville and Edmonton. It includes transportation to return young people home, and referrals for young people to connect them with existing cultural programs and key agencies.
Location: Cairns

Youth Into Work – Australian Training Works Group
An Indigenous group training organisation that provides work readiness courses and builds young people's skills for the workplace, such as communication, teamwork and other interpersonal skills.
Location: Cairns

Proud Warrior – Queensland Youth Services
The Proud Warrior project will provide multi-agency intervention for primarily Indigenous young people who are at risk of disengaging from school, young people from low socio-economic households, and cases where young people are known, or their family is known, to police.
Location: Townsville

Back to Community – Save the Children (trading as 54 Reasons)
The Back to Community reintegration program will provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive throughcare support for young people whose home country is Mount Isa, Doomadgee or Mornington Island when leaving the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre.
Location: Mount Isa

Babbinyuwi Wanda-Rites of Passage – Marigurim Yalaam Indigenous Corporation
A Rites of Passage framework which includes intensive support for young people over 6 weeks before attending a Rites of Passage camp, followed by another 6 weeks of assistance.
Location: Hervey Bay

T-REK (Together-Respected, Energised, Kinnected) – Youth off the Streets
Targeted and evidence-based interventions which caters for 2 main groups – young people leaving detention and returning to the community, and young people who need to re-engage with education. Cultural groups in Logan who will benefit from the program include First Nations, Pasifika and African communities.
Location: Logan

Tribe of Mentors – Circuit Breaker Project, Adam Jeffrey Wenitong
An intensive 30-week immediate response for re-offending young people, including a 7-month cultural project that will provide cultural mentoring and connection to the First Nations community.
Location: Toowoomba

RAW Impact On Community – Youth at Risk, Raw Impact International
Cultural connection over an intensive period of 7 weeks for at-risk young people, with the option of ongoing engagement in meaningful cultural activities and projects that support the rejuvenation of native title land at the Yumba.
Location: Toowoomba

'The Block': A Community Hub Empowering Connection and Wellbeing – Winangali Infusion
'The Block' provides young people in Goondiwindi, and in the New South Wales border towns of Boggabila and Toomelah with a safe and supervised community hub for pro-social opportunities, cultural education, recreational activities and more.
Location: Goondiwindi