In the face of growing concern over youth crime across Brisbane, Inspire Youth and Family Services, has secured a Kickstarter early intervention grant to deliver a new community-led program in Inala aimed at redirecting at-risk young people before offending escalates.
Based at 79 Poinsettia Street, the initiative, dubbed the Inspire Positive Redirection Program, is geared towards guiding young people aged 8 to 17 in the southwest Brisbane suburb who are already showing signs of antisocial or early criminal behaviour.
The program combines mentoring, family support and community engagement to help participants build positive life pathways before disengagement becomes entrenched.
It forms part of a broader round of four Kickstarter-funded early intervention initiatives across Greater Brisbane, with Inspire Youth and Family Services joining three other community organisations sharing more than $1 million in total funding.
Turning the Tide on Youth Crime
It comes as early intervention and rehabilitation are starting to turn the tide on Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis, delivering a 7.2 per cent drop in the number of victims of crime in 2025.
“We introduced our tough Adult Crime, Adult Time laws to hold offenders to account but, we are also investing in early intervention because it’s a critical step to stop youth from falling into a life of crime,” Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support Laura Gerber said.
“Addressing the early signs of disengagement, anti-social or criminal behaviour is critical to breaking the cycle of crime and putting youth back on the right track.
“We are delivering safety where you live with tough laws, more police, early intervention, and rehabilitation to break Labor’s cycle of crime for good.”
A Service Built From the Ground Up in Inala
Inspire Youth and Family Services has operated in Inala for more than 35 years, making it one of the longest-standing youth support organisations in southwest Brisbane. The organisation works with children and young people from birth to 25 years of age, offering a multidisciplinary mix of services that spans educational re-engagement, youth housing and homelessness support, bail and court support, family case management and school-based youth welfare.
Each year, more than 400 young people access the organisation’s medium-term transitional accommodation, while its bail support services work with young people in contact with the justice system to help stabilise their circumstances and reduce the risk of reoffending.
Among its most recognisable community assets is The Hut, a youth outreach centre located in DJ Sherrington Park in Inala. The Hut provides a safe and creative space for young people aged 12 to 25, running educational workshops, facilitated discussions and creative engagement programs throughout the year.
That kind of embedded, accessible infrastructure sets Inspire apart from externally delivered programs, giving the organisation a genuine understanding of the community it serves and the trust of the families and young people who rely on it.
A Suburb Shaped by Long-Term Challenges
Inala sits approximately 22 kilometres southwest of Brisbane’s CBD and carries a long history as a planned public housing suburb, established in the early 1950s to address post-war housing shortages. That history has shaped the suburb’s demographics, with socioeconomic disadvantage remaining a real and persistent feature of life for many Inala families.
Forest Lake, the broader ward within which Inala sits, includes a diverse and growing residential population, and while crime across the ward decreased significantly between 2023 and 2024, the underlying pressures that drive youth disengagement remain present.
Inspire Youth and Family Services is not a new presence in Poinsettia Street. It has been part of the suburb’s fabric for decades, operating through the complex social challenges that many southwest Brisbane families navigate.
Families, schools and community members seeking more information about this program can phone on (07) 3372 2655, or email office@iys.org.au, or through the website at iys.org.au.
Published 23-March-2026