Youth hub for vulnerable children at risk of closing

A centre that keeps children off the streets, with a focus on tackling youth crime in one of Australia's most disadvantaged regional areas, is again at risk of closing its doors.

Gippsland Youth Spaces in Morwell has been a second home for at-risk and marginalised young people in the Latrobe Valley, in Victoria's east, for several years, providing free meals, laundry services, safe places to relax, social activities, training and pathways to re-engage with school and employment.

It was set up by the Labor government in 2021, but board member Jewel Burchell-Robins says it has had to beg for funding each year to continue.

She says if the youth space programs are shut down, at-risk young people will fall through the gaps.

"It's not only anti-social behaviour that we'll see, but also increases, unfortunately, in suicide or harmful and risky behaviours from young people because they don't have a safety net," she said.

The Latrobe Valley experiences high rates of youth crime and anti-social behaviour.

Last year, almost 2,500 incidents were committed by people aged between 12 and 29.

The youth unemployment rate is sitting at 10.2 per cent.

"The young people in our region don't have anywhere else to turn, and we have become a massive safety net for so many young people," Ms Jewel Burchell-Robins said.

She said that when the service began, it offered a full suite of programs to engage children.

"Having to cut back to the bare necessities and barely scraping by with such a shoestring budget has been a little bit heartbreaking, to say the least."

Dwindling offerings

Gippsland Youth Spaces originally operated in three locations, at Morwell, Wellington Shire and East Gippsland.

But now just Morwell remains.

The organisation has been surviving on grant money and donations from local businesses for several years, as ongoing government funding has slowly reduced.

Morwell car dealership owner Ray Massaro has been supporting the youth organisation through generous donations for several years.

"They're not [in] gangs; these are kids that are bonding. You can see it. They're bonding and teaching and learning off one another … they've found their little tribe," he said.

"I'm passionate about supporting them, but I don't have that money. I'm holding on, treading water; eventually I can't tread water any longer."

Youth Spaces executive officer Trevor Carstein said the service's days were numbered if more funding cannot be secured.

"It's great to have those networks and those partnerships [but] they're not life-saving," he said.

To recoup funds, the organisation has sold off its fleet of buses, which were used to transport young people to and from external activities.

External programs like camps and excursions have all been cut for the foreseeable future.

An annual trip to Parliament House to teach young people leadership skills through direct advocacy with politicians has also been cancelled.

But Mr Carstein said those cut-backs only buy the organisation "pieces of time".

"My projections are [we have] anywhere from 10 to 12 months,"

he said.

"It's dire because there's 2,300 young people currently signed up,

"That means we put those very vulnerable youth back out into nothing."

He said to be sustainable, the organisation needed about $500,000 a year to operate one centre with correct staff ratios and quality programs.

"This is a necessity for the Latrobe Valley."

A spokesperson for the state government said more than $9 million has been provided to Gippsland Youth Spaces since it was established.

"This investment supported the organisation to build a more sustainable funding model, with the expectation it would operate independently beyond government funding," the spokesperson said.

"We continue to work with Gippsland Youth Space to identify further opportunities for a viable operating pathway for 2027 and beyond."