The City of Belmont has successfully secured more than $325,000 of grant funding for three projects to engage with local youth, as well as $540,000 to expand the City’s CCTV network.
“Securing these grants again demonstrates the City of Belmont’s commitment to addressing the community’s perception about safety and security,” according to City of Belmont Chief Executive Officer John Christie.
“The City is particularly being proactive in developing opportunities for our youth to participate in activities that they might not ordinarily have access to,” Mr Christie said.
The Safe School Project ($280,000) aims to address the risk factors for violence against children stemming from racial or religious intolerance. Designed in collaboration with key stakeholders and Belmont City College, the project will be delivered through the Positive Engagement Program, with a focus on disengaged students and those who exhibit anti-social behaviour and violence at school and in the wider community.
Through student engagement, the program will aim to reduce the risks of harm to others by helping the participants to understand the effects these offences/behaviours have on a person and the possible consequences of this behaviour, coupled with improving the participants’ personal wellbeing.
The Safe School Project received funding through the Australian Government’s Safer Communities Fund. Work on delivering the curriculum for this Program is currently being developed and will commence in February 2021.
Set to start in fourth term, the Social Street Basketball ($20,499) program will promote basketball and engage proactively with at-risk youths by positively influencing their behaviour and attitudes to discourage them from anti-social and criminal behaviour.
The program will be run in partnership with Belmont Forum, Bluefit (Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre) YMCA Base @ Belmont, Belmont Police Station and the City of Belmont.
The five week Hip Hop Ed program ($25,000) to commence on 23 July will be available to all students at the Belmont City College from Year 7 upwards.
The Hip Hop Ed program will be facilitated by Scott Griffiths ‘Optamus’, a professional rapper who has extensive experience and has had great success in rolling out this program through other schools and corrective institutions throughout WA.
Hip Hop Ed is designed to utilise the therapeutic nature of music as a positive outlet of energy to build self-esteem, and stimulate the creative process to engage youth that have been disengaged in the school system. The Hip Hop Ed program and the Social Street Basketball program are funded by WA Police Grants.
The City of Belmont also received significant grant funding of $540,000 from the Australian government for the installation of a new advanced CCTV analytics and digital concierge system in the new Belmont Hub.
The City of Belmont established the Community Safety Taskforce and Community Safety Alliance last year with the aim of improving community safety.