Youth Minister Dave Kelly has presented Perth Inner City Youth Service with a Lotterywest grant of $122,847 to support its ongoing work with young people.
Perth Inner City Youth Services (PICYS) works with young people aged between 15 and 25 years who are experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage.
PICYS supports young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through transitional accommodation and individualised psychosocial support, and is a specialist support provider for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning and asexual (LGBTIQA+) young people in the Perth metropolitan area.
The organisation started out in the early 1980s as a collective of agencies providing support services for inner city youth.
PICYS now provides a range of services including the Household Network service, a youth accommodation and support service for young people between the ages of 15 and 25 years who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Household Network assists young people who become homeless in moving as quickly as possible through the homeless services system into stable housing.
The Lotterywest grant will contribute to the costs of building renovations to improve amenities for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people at PICYS' 'BaseCamp' drop-in facility in West Leederville.
As stated by Youth Minister Dave Kelly:
"Organisations like Perth Inner City Youth Service are a vital part of the community services sector, helping young people at risk of homelessness to get housed, and stay housed.
"We know that early intervention with young people is crucial in preventing homelessness, and PICYS' focus on assisting vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to move through the crisis and homelessness system as quickly as possible is an essential part of that.
"This Lotterywest grant will help PICYS carry out much needed renovations of its 'BaseCamp' facility to make it a welcoming, safe space for these young people to gather and access youth workers and support services."
As stated by Nedlands MLA Katrina Stratton:
"Through my community services work I've had a long appreciation of the work PICYS does with young people in our community.
"They are an inclusive and innovative organisation, and I'm so pleased the grant will enable them to continue their work supporting young people."
