SUPPORT for hundreds of vulnerable Victorian teenagers is in jeopardy, with dozens of mentoring programs on the brink of folding.
Funding for at least 30 grass-roots projects is due to expire at the end of the year.
Volunteer co-ordinators warn troubled youths are now at risk of slipping through the cracks because the Baillieu Government has been too slow to respond to their calls for help.
And the Opposition says a funding announcement this week was a smokescreen for budget cuts to the sector.
Youth Affairs Minister Ryan Smith said "organisations supporting youth engagement" could compete for grants of up to $150,000 over three years under its Engage! program.
However Opposition youth affairs spokesperson Jenny Mikakos said this was a re-hashing of an old program - the Youth Participation and Access Program - worth $12.3 million over three years, due to expire this year.
Twelve community groups are about to lose $3.9 million in funding when the four-year Mentoring and Capacity Building Initiative expires in December.
They include Strathbogie Council's Making Links Mentoring Project, which has helped more than 50 disadvantaged and disabled youths finish school, find work, and engage with the community.
Project co-ordinator Linda Cusworth fears it will fold without new State Government funding.
"Engage! actually just means we're all going to have to compete for a whole lot less money," she said.
"And it's too late. By the time the grants are announced in late November ... we can't operate expecting you have only got a few weeks to go."
heraldsun.com.au 17 Sep 2011
This is how important governments see the needs of underprivileged children.
Whilst governments are throwing lavish parties, jet setting lifestyles, and ordering hookers on credit cards, vulnerable children have funds cut.
Another deliberate policy at degrading society.
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