PCYC Mackay, Swimon and ATSI Corp receive $175K to divert youth crime

Nearly $200,000 has been delivered to community organisations that help young people and those in domestic violence situations steer away from criminal activities and towards a better life.

PCYC Mackay Patrick Thiaday, Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert, and Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer in Mackay. Photo: Contributed.

Three community organisations have been given a whopping $175,000 to help support young people steer away from criminal activity.

PCYC Mackay Community Culture Youth Program, domestic violence speaker and World Record marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel, and Family and Childrens’ Emerging Support Services’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation Program will share in the grants.

The three grants are part of 22 projects statewide to share in an almost $1.3m investment from the Queensland government.

Ultra-marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel received $25,000 through Swimon to provide school presentations for young people aged 14 to 19 years, with a focus on domestic family violence and coercive control education.

World record holder for English Channel swims, Chloe McCardel. Picture: Alison Wynd

Ms McCardel was herself a victim-survivor of domestic violence and, despite swimming the English Channel 44 times, said she hoped to share the things that helped her in times she felt “very vulnerable”.

PCYC Mackay will have $75,000 for early intervention and diversionary strategies to engage youth aged 5-19 through a variety of activities, including sporting, social, and cultural events, while also providing participants with mentorship opportunities.

Family and Childrens’ ATSI Corporation Program will help young people assess goals, provide positive role models, skill development, academic support and future planning with a network of community mentors and job placements.

PCYC Mackay Patrick Thiaday, Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert, and Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer in Mackay. Photo: Contributed.

Mackay MP Julieanne Gilbert said community-based projects helped reduce youth crime and reoffending and that with “the Community-based Crime Action Grants, we are keeping the Mackay community safe”.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said while laws put the most serious offenders in detention, focusing on stopping the pipeline channelling young people into crime was key to stopping youth crime at the source.

“It means doing all we can to break the cycle of offending, because when a young person comes into the system, we want to make sure we’re doing our very best to stop them returning,” she said in a statement.