Project diverting youths from drugs and gangs facing axe
An intensive street project aimed at diverting young people away from the drugs trade and criminal gangs faces the axe because of an impending funding crisis.
This is despite a recent independent evaluation recommending that the TRY project, operating at St Teresa's Gardens flat complex in Dublin's south inner city, should actually be expanded.
Funding for the TRY project is up in a month's time and the scheme will not continue unless an additional €20,000 is secured through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.
TRY's Fearghal Connolly said that Dublin City Council (DCC) will only continue its €50,000 funding of the project on condition that another agency comes on board.
“The City of Dublin Youth Services Board have agreed to put €20,000, already allocated for Dublin South Inner City Projects, towards it,” Mr Connolly said.
This had to be rubber-stamped by the Department of Children & Family Affairs. We received word back on Tuesday evening that the Department are not releasing the funds.
Mr Connolly told the that the project was working with young men "involved in gang culture and the drugs trade".
He said: “Some young men don't see an alternative to the drugs trade and street gangs. There's money to be made, but there are consequences, violence and possibly an early grave. We see the level of violence out there.”
But he said the way to tackling gangs and the drugs trade was not just a law and order approach: “You need youth services, community services and family services. They are key to any response and here we have this project that works directly with these young people and has had a positive impact with the lives of young men and their communities.”
Two youth workers, Gary Lawlor and Karl Ducque, are employed by TRY, which was initially piloted in 2017 as part of DCC's regeneration plan for the complex.
TRY uses the offices of Donore Community Drug and Alcohol Team.
Mr Connolly, coordinator of the team, said the workers deal “empathically and intensively” with young people and try and move them away from gangs into education and employment.
“It's difficult because you are up against easy money [selling drugs],” he said.
Mr Connolly said they were trying to broaden out TRY's reach by hiring a female youth worker to work with young girls aged 14-18.
He said they had alerted drugs strategy minister, and local TD, Catherine Byrne to their situation and were holding an emergency meeting with local deputies.
The funding is up in a month's time. We need the money in the coming weeks
An independent evaluation of TRY, conducted by Pat Tobin of Community Action Network and published last month, said the project was initially set up in response to anti-social behaviour, polydrug misuse and public drug dealing.
It said policing and estate management measures hadn't achieved sustainable results and that garda efforts to deal with anti-social behaviour had heightened the problem, including “violence towards the gardaí”.
It said an intensive outreach project was given the go-ahead, funded by DCC.
It said TRY was currently working with 18 young men, mostly aged around 20 and that they all used alcohol excessively, smoked cannabis herb and took benzodiazepines (tranquillisers) and cocaine at the weekend.
“They are all involved in the drug economy, albeit to different degrees," it said.
Most are also in trouble with law. Some have served prison sentences and prison is generally not a deterrent to illegal activity. They are also connected to bigger crime gangs.
The street-based TRY workers build relationships with the young people and offer practical support and accompaniment to services and the courts.
The evaluation details the work done with eight individuals, including one youth who was dealing and using intimidation on those buying drugs to extract payment. They got him on a construction course and this young man has gained full-time employment. Others have been supported into drug treatment and college.
The review said the work “takes time and at times is potentially risky for staff”.
The young men told the evaluation that the two workers were the “biggest contribution” of the project.
One said: “If you put in 10% you're guaranteed to get 90% back. They just won't give up on you.”
The evaluation said there was no other project working with this target group.
It said: "Young men are very clear in their expression of the difference it has made to their lives.”
The evaluation recommended that TRY “is continued and expanded” and could be extended to those aged 14-17.
Responding to a query on TRY's funding request, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said: "The City of Dublin Education and Training Board, via its Youth Services Board, is currently involved in a detailed Area Profiling, Needs Assessment and Service Requirement process for the entire city with a view to making recommendations to the DCYA for youth service requirements from 2020 onwards.
Part of that process will include the identification of areas where no DCYA funded services currently exist, with a view to commissioning new services.
In a statement, it said there had to be "a fair and transparent" commissioning process to ensure that all service providers, existing or potential, had a fair and equitable opportunity to apply for funding.
It said: "Therefore, any identified service to be newly commissioned must first meet the criteria of this fair and transparent process before being funded."
