Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has invested $60,000 into a youth crime prevention community organisation, Turn Your Life Around Youth Development Trust (TYLA).

Auckland Council’s Community Impact Unit has also contributed $40,000 to make up a $100,000 grant for the organisation to ensure continuity of service.

TYLA will receive a substantial operating grant from a third party at the end of July, making the organisation more financially viable in the longer term.

Initiatives that increase community safety and wellbeing have been identified as support priorities as part of the Long-term Plan 2024-2034. Council staff have identified TYLA as the appropriate initiative for council investment to generate community safety and crime prevention outcomes.

The early intervention youth development trust was established by NZ Police in 1996. They intervene in the lives of young people with intergenerational trauma and known high risk factors for entering a pathway to crime. Their programmes produce a 75% reduction in reoffending rates.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says it’s yet another approach to reducing crime in the Auckland region.

“It costs less to invest in crime prevention than crime punishment. TYLA is an impressive programme, and this funding means they will have more certainty in their future.”

He says the funding is part of a multi-pronged approach to reducing crime in Auckland by his office.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe on our streets, so this is the third lot of funding we are putting into crime-reducing initiatives. My combined approach here considers crime reduction, social wellbeing, and the activation of public spaces.

This wasn’t a core point I was voted in on to fix but it’s something I’ve had to take up. It is really the job of business associations and police to do more here. I’m looking forward to meeting with the police minister and other key stakeholders next week to discuss how we can as a group work together to reduce crime in our city.”

Dickie Humphries, Auckland Council Head of Community Impact, says TYLA provides an essential lifeline to children and young people who may not have access to social services.

“They are proactively addressing behaviour before it becomes harmful by helping our youth to find a better pathway forward.

“We know this approach works and must be prioritised. TYLA has supported more than 1000 children and young people in Auckland with complex needs since 1996.

“This commitment from the council reflects a leadership view that all children and young people have the potential to make a difference.”

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