News / Staff shocked as SYIS funding withdrawn
THE YOUTH drop in service at Lerwick’s Market Cross faces closure with the potential loss of one full time and 12 part time posts, after Shetland Charitable Trust voted to remove its core funding on Thursday.
The news came as a shock to many of the staff working at the Shetland Youth Information Service, who voiced concerns for the 300 or so young people who use it for support and advice.
The trust voted in private to cut the core grant of almost £190,000 for next year after refusing to provide bridging finance while the service was redesigned as part of the council’s new youth strategy.
Trust chairman Bobby Hunter said a majority of trustees had a long discussion about the way the service was being provided before a majority voted against funding the organisation.
“This was not to save money, it was because there was concern over how the place was being operated and what the outcomes were,” he said.
Brian Gregson, who chairs the SYIS board, said they had hoped the trust would have provided funding for six months until they had prepared a strategy that they had been working on with Shetland Islands Council since last August.
“We were working with council officers to establish what the role of SYIS would be in the new Shetland youth strategy and we are disappointed that we have not been able to take that through to its final conclusion,” he said.
“In spite of what Bobby says, I think that we would have been given a bit more leeway in a different financial climate.”
Gregson said that the directors had been dismayed and the staff were very upset at hearing the news.
A meeting has been arranged on Friday afternoon with Shetland Islands Council children’s services director Helen Budge to work out if any of the centre’s projects can be kept going.
SYIS runs a drop in centre seven afternoons a week for young people aged 12 to 25, providing advice and support on issues ranging from sex and drugs to finding work.
For the past two years it has run a successful peer education programme training young people to help and support their own age group, funded by the Robertson Trust.
Gregson said he was particularly concerned for the young people the centre supported, many of whom would find it difficult to access help anywhere else.
“We are taking away a safety net, not a comfort blanket, and I am not sure what is going to be provided for these young people,” he said.
One part time support worker at the centre said they had been shocked to be told the centre would close, adding this would be a big loss for Lerwick.
“When this place goes there is going to be around 30 young adults from 15 to 25 who are just going to be hanging around the streets – it’s going to be pretty harsh.”
In a statement the trust said that it remained willing to discuss with its partners ways to support young people in Shetland.
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