Knox City Council’s Youth Services recently received a grant of $25,440 from the Department of Justice to increase linkages between police and youth services in Victoria.
The project, to be known as Youth Link, has been funded as a State-wide best-practice program and will involve creating a transferable model of the award winning Knox Link program into other Victorian Municipalities.
The Knox Link Program is a joint program conducted by Knox City Council’s Youth Services and Knox and Boronia Police. The program offers a support service to young people who have received a caution, who have been charged or who are victims of crime. It has been received very favourably by local parents, young people, police and community agencies since being established in 1995.
“Parents and young people are grateful to have somewhere to turn for information and support when dealing with, in some cases, very traumatic situations,” said Mayor Richard Dare. “As a result of the funding, Knox Link can now be implemented State wide and assist in the prevention and control of crime, and the reduction of violence in our communities.”
Parliamentary Secretary of the Department of Justice, Robert Dean, MLA, who represented the Department at the Youth Link launch, said that the community needed to develop more creative mechanisms for dealing with crime.
Youth Link is funded through the Victorian Community Safety and Crime Prevention Program.
