Above is an article in The Sunday Age dated 23rd February, 2025 which details a program that is run in Alice Springs in relation to youth crime. Redtails Pinktails Right Tracks Foundation reaches out to young people in the local area.
We wrote to Zoe McKenzie, Paul Mercurio, Renee Heath and Kate Roper to see what resources are available for our local youth, here is an edited version of that email dated 25th February, 2025. We will let you know if we receive a response!!
Zoe, Paul, Renee and Kate,
I am writing to discuss the crime problem that is currently affecting all parts of Australia, including Somerville and the greater Mornington Peninsula.
Attached is an article from The Age dated 23rd February, 2025 about an Alice Springs initiative Redtails Pinktails Right Tracks Foundation and how it works “The program is designed to find what these young people are passionate about … so then they’ve got some purpose. As soon as you’ve got purpose, then you can start instilling discipline, for want of a better description, and you’re not chasing them for it because they want to be there. That’s the difference.”
There is also the Clontarf Foundation which has similar aims-:
The Clontarf Foundation exists to improve the education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and by doing so equips them to participate more meaningfully in society.
Source: Clontarf FoundationAbout Us - Clontarf Foundationhttps://search.app/X3U6pk8Q9prRrWii6
A client of mine worked for Clontarf at a Darwin High School for six years. Basically he would look after up to 25 indigenous youth at a time to keep them in school through sport and recreation. He would pick kids up from home and bring them to school. He would go to places like the Bagot Community and make sure the kids were alright and get them to school, to football training and take them home etc. Each year he would move up with the kids from Year 10, to Year 11 and to Year 12. In his last year his group was rated second in Australia (119 acadamies in Australia) for student retention.
Some things that stuck in my mind from his experiences-:
· youth suicide was very high, but the longer the kids stay in school the rate of suicide drops.
· one kid was Captain of the local Under 18's football team, but he was also the shortest. He explained that he would smoke bongs all day from the age of 10, stunting his growth. He hated school, but with the program they asked him what he liked, what he wanted to do, and he said he liked trees. He now works as an arborist and is captain of his footy team...no more drugs.
· In the same team was this big lump of a kid, who would only play full forward in the football team. He wouldn't chase or lead out for the ball, preferring to stay close to the goals. We took him home from the football one day and he was a really well-mannered kid, but something was not quite right. I asked him what was his story and he was born with foetal alcohol syndrome. He said he loved going to school for the social interaction and footy, but was not great at class work.
Whilst I don't expect anyone to come up with $57M overnight and the above two are indigenous programs, is there some scope to start something like this in the Hastings area to keep the disenfranchised youth that think pointing a toy gun at a shopper at a suburban shopping centre is the right thing to do?
Are we able to "equip" these kids with the necessary skills to participate more meaningfully in society? It will take a quantum leap for our educators, but some kids need to be given a reason to attend school, rather than wandering the streets during the day (and night).
From the Business Group point of view the lower the crime is in our area, the better it is for all business owners.
Please let us know if there are any programs like Clontarf and Redtails available for our local youth
Regards
--
David Livingstone
Secretary
Somerville Business Group Inc.
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