Working together for youth
Parents, Elders, young people and local services told us that too many children are walking the streets late because home doesn’t always feel safe, or there simply isn’t anywhere else to go. Community surveys backed this up, with almost all respondents identifying lack of safe places, alcohol and drugs, and youth crime as major worries, and 97% saying they would support an overnight youth facility in Carnarvon. This work has now become one of the early priorities sitting alongside the Carnarvon Common Ground project.
The Carnarvon Youth Hub Research Project is how we are responding. The Carnarvon Common Ground gropu and the GDC co‑designed a research project to understand what is really driving youth disengagement and night‑time roaming, and what kind of youth hub and after‑hours supports would work in Carnarvon, not just on paper. The project has brought together data, school and community surveys, and conversations with young people, families and Elders.
With the final report now completed, the CCG group is inviting relevant stakeholders to join the table to help define a model that suits Carnarvon, identify possible venues and seek funding to trial it. The aim is to develop a Carnarvon model that combines a youth hub, overnight safety options and wrap‑around supports that are Aboriginal‑led, trauma‑informed and genuinely welcoming for young people.
This work will guide future funding bids and service trials connected to Carnarvon Common Ground, so that new investment backs practical after‑hours supports that keep children closer to family and Country, ease pressure on police and crisis services, and create better pathways into culture, education and work.
Key Statistics
Key findings from two Carnarvon community surveys in 2025 included
Community members
Young local people
Support an overnight youth facility in Carnarvon
Identified lack of safe places as major concern for young people, alongside alcohol, drugs and youth crime
Local students said boredom is one of their biggest worries
Worry about finding somewhere safe to live
