Hamilton police hope to keep gang exit program afloat through funding

Hamilton police have negotiated a $100,000 policing grant to share with the local John Howard Society — a step toward keeping a program that helps young people escape gang life afloat.

The Youth at Risk Development (YARD) program — which helps reshape how youth think about community, violence and money — is at risk of closing when its one-time funding ends in August 2018.

A report going to the Hamilton Police Services Board for approval Thursday says the attorney general has already approved the $100,000 proceeds-of-crime, front-line policing grant, which will cover one fulltime youth worker.

“This is a small piece of the funding needed that was very generously granted to us,” said Donna de Jong, John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington and Area’s manager of adult justice and community services.

With this funding, the society will have 12 youth workers doing outreach and running programs to help youth between 12 and 24 involved in or at risk of becoming involved in gang life.

The grant will also cover administrative and equipment expenses. John Howard will cover $8,302 of the remaining budget, the report says.

The funding covers the youth worker position until the end of March, with the hope of renewing it for the next year, de Jong said. They are feverishly applying for more funding and grants to keep the program afloat and will make YARD work with whatever they get.

Executive director Ruth Greenspan said the “really exciting” part about the funding is the hope it signals to the community that the YARD program is not going away.

This is especially important given the crime, including a rise in youth incidents and gun violence, in Hamilton recently, she said.

“The grant from the police is an amazing show of support in their partnership working with us,” Greenspan said.

Hamilton police initiated the request to the attorney general because of the program’s value to the community, said police spokesperson Const. Lorraine Edwards.

“It’s one of those awesome resources in our community that just barely keeps its head above water,” Edwards said.

The work YARD does with atrisk youth is “right in line” with the work Hamilton police are trying to do, she added. Through Edwards, police youth co-ordinator Sgt. Jon Alsbergas said YARD is a great program because it works to positively change the lives of young people instead of criminalizing them.

In the more than three years since YARD began, it has had 772 referrals and over 100 young people have completed the program.