Logan YMCA aims to support, encourage and train ‘at risk’ and marginalised young people who are confronted daily with problems relating to homelessness, poverty, disability and distress.

With the assistance of volunteers from the local community, these young people undertake various skill and confidence building activities that can assist them to gain sustainable employment, education and motivation to approach the rest of their lives.

Ultimately, the aim is to break the cycle of disadvantage by showing the young people that there are opportunities and experiences that differ from those that they are accustomed to in their existing life situations.

Referrals to our service are youth that are either at-risk of or already suspended or expelled from the traditional school system.

• On average, 30 young people are expelled or excluded from school each week in Logan. 
• Kingston and Woodridge have some of the highest youth unemployment levels in Australia.
• Logan experiences higher than average levels of public housing, welfare dependency, and rental accommodation.
• 31.2% of families in Logan live below the poverty line.
• Logan’s recorded crime rates vary between suburbs, but are on average up to double the Queensland average for many categories of crime including youth crime.
• Over 60 percent of Logan’s suburbs recorded higher than average national levels of disadvantage, in particular the regions of Kingston, Woodridge and Waterford West.
• Logan has a significantly higher than state average rate of single parent families, with just under one in four families (23.3%) headed by a sole parent.
• Low income earners (those earning less than $200 a week) account for 28.4 percent of Logan’s population.

Objectives

Young people growing up in difficult circumstances often get drawn into a cycle of disadvantage due to the fact that they are simply not aware that other opportunities, lifestyles and directions exist.

Our objectives are