By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An early-intervention pilot program is reportedly making inroads as the youth crime rate soars in the South East.
In August, the MERLE (Mentor, Empower, Reflect, Learn, Earn) program was launched by South East Community Links to assist 60 disengaged young people in schools.
MERLE aims to help young people, particularly from culturally diverse backgrounds, tackle challenging issues and engage positively in school and community.
They are guided into further education, training and work, as well as building leadership, resilience and belonging through camps, music, sport, nutrition and group workshops.
“Rather than building prisons, we need to invest in early intervention programs which support at-risk young people to reach their potential,” says SECL youth engagement manager Junior Melo.
“If they’re not engaging, they can go in places we don’t want them to go to.
“The latest statistics show that youth crime in Victoria is surging, and the City of Casey has the highest number of alleged youth offender incidents in the state.
“In response to these issues, we developed the MERLE program.”
About 70 per cent of MERLE participants come from culturally diverse backgrounds, including refugees.
Many are facing traumas, racism and mental health issues. And during Covid’s long lockdowns, many were stuck at home, lonely and starved of positive role-models.
In its first 10 months, the federally-funded MERLE pilot has had “inspiring outcomes” at five schools – Dandenong High School, Hampton Park Secondary College, Lyndhurst Secondary College, Narre Warren South P-12 College and Noble Park Secondary College.
It has reported better participant behaviour including 55 per cent lifting their school attendance.
Seventy per cent had improved overall wellbeing and 52 per cent had better relationships with peers, families and the broader community.
There is high demand to expand the MERLE program, which partners with Youth Justice, Corrections Victoria, Dandenong Childrens’ Court and Victoria Police.
“We’ve experienced strong demand from an additional five schools in the region and hope to expand this program with new funding soon.
“This early intervention aims to avoid further contact with the justice system. Going to prison would only make their life harder in the long-run.
“MERLE shows that we can change people’s lives early and put them on the right path.
“These are the young people who are our future for the next 50 years.”
In the latest official crime stats, offending by 10-to-17-year-olds in Casey soared by 44 per cent in the past 12 months.
“Serious and violent” youth crime was an “ongoing focus”, Victoria Police’s deputy commissioner Rick Nugent recently said.
“Youth gangs remain an issue, however our intense focus on disrupting and dismantling these gangs is reaping benefits.
“When you look at gang related activity for kids, for the most part they end up growing out of it, if they’re lucky,“ he said.
“There’s not too many street gangs that have people older than 19.
“So it’s really about how we can protect them through that period, divert them away and support them.“
Dep Comm Nugent noted youth offending had halved in the past decade.
The State Government’s latest budget provided a further $12.4 million to support early intervention initiatives, including more than $7 million for the Embedded Youth Outreach program (EYOP).
The program targets young people between 10 and 24 years of age and was designed to respond to the complex needs of young people who are at risk of long-term involvement with the criminal justice system.
Meanwhile SECL is opening its Youth Hub in Noble Park throughout the June-July school holidays.
“It’s another platform for young people to hang over the school holidays. They can hang, watch videos, plays games.”
The drop-in service is at Shop 2-4, 49 Douglas Street Noble Park, open Mondays-Fridays 9am-5pm.
