Town of Cambridge Youth Service clients Jesse Leah, Emily Hilston and Kira Panneck.
Camera IconTown of Cambridge Youth Service clients Jesse Leah, Emily Hilston and Kira Panneck. Credit: Supplied/Andrew Ritchie www.communitypix.com.au d492844a

Town of Cambridge Youth Service closes its doors

Victoria RificiWestern Suburbs Weekly

TOWN of Cambridge’s Youth Service, at No. 86 Cambridge Street, will close its doors today.

The centre’s users and former employees, who were made redundant, will gather at No. 86 Cambridge Street and farewell the beloved service this Friday afternoon.

Councillors reaffirmed their previous February 2019 decision to cease providing its youth services at a special council meeting on June 19.

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Mayor Keri Shannon told the Western Suburbs Weekly in May the Town would look at creating a more “contemporary model of service delivery”.

Youth services are still active within the Town including PICYS that caters for young people aged 16 to 25 who are homeless or at risk of being homeless and wish to access support.

The service accepts people regardless of race, culture, religion, disability and sexuality, and offers an open-ended service, which means clients may access the service for as long as they choose.

Jesse Leah (17) said if it wasn’t for 86 Cambridge Street, he would be sleeping on the streets.

He said PICYS was a service available to youth but it was not No.86 Youth Service.

“The Youth Service would tell you these kinds of services like PICYS exist – it helped me,” he said.

Town of Cambridge administration will now investigate plans for the future of its youth services before the Town meets to discuss options in September.