Remote community devastated over closure of Indigenous youth organisation

An Indigenous youth organisation in Western Australia's north has shut its service without warning, leaving locals confused and children without a designated night space.The Wyndham Aboriginal Youth Corporation (WYAC) has operated programs in the remote community, around 3,100 kilometres north of Perth, since 2018.Until recently, it delivered a range of services, including a cafe, mechanic workshop, educational programs with certification pathways and a safe night space for young people.WYAC has been credited with reducing crime rates and fostering positive community-led solutions.However, the ABC has been told services stopped in mid-September with no warning.Crashing downFormer WYAC chief executive Neville D'Silva claims the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) reneged on funding commitments, which left the service with limited options.In a statement, NIAA said it was unable to comment publicly on grant management discussions with individual organisations, but said it was "continuing to engage with WYAC".Neville D'Silva is hoping youth services can restart in the Kimberley town of Wyndham. (Supplied: Neville D'Silva)Mr D'Silva, who said he had now returned to help WYAC, said his heart went out to the at-risk children and staff."These kids need somebody to take up the fight for them … now it has come crashing down," Mr D'Silva said."WYAC was the one providing them with social enterprise, education … crime came right down."The service had been put on hold because NIAA "is not paying their share", according to Mr D'Silva."They're supposed to give us the cash flow from July, they didn't pay us that money, and that's why WYAC is in the situation they are in," he said."So the workers are sitting at home, there are no jobs, they're not getting paid."Mr D'Silva, who stepped down from the CEO position for a period of time this year, said he was uncertain when services would operate again.'Devastating' impactShire of Wyndham East Kimberley president David Menzel said it was "devastating" programs had halted.Mr Menzel said he was worried about the impact on residents.David Menzel says youth services are needed in the northern WA town. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)"I think we've become quite accustomed to the high level of service WYAC's been providing, a high level of engagement, particularly in the space of at-risk youth," Mr Menzel said."I'm not sure there's any other organisation in place to take on all of that, it's inevitable there'll be some gaps and I'm not sure what the outcome of the current situation will be."A source familiar with WYAC, who the ABC has chosen to keep anonymous, said the operation stopped on September 18.The small town of Wyndham is about 100km west of Kununurra in WA's Kimberley region. (ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio)They said staff and community members had not been informed about the future of the organisation, despite repeated attempts at contact."We had no idea it was heading in this direction, it was just business as usual up until mid-September," they said."No-one really knows what's going to happen in terms of employment, whether they should be looking for a new job, nothing's been communicated."They said children in Wyndham approached them daily, asking when services would start again."It's absolutely devastating. The most important thing is the young people and the diversionary programs are no longer functioning," they said."The night space, which was a big part of keeping young people away from the streets, giving them an alternate safe space to go, is no longer operational."The community of Wyndham is based in the northern Kimberley in Western Australia. (ABC Kimberley: Ted O'Connor)In a statement, the Department of Justice said it recognised the importance of youth services to the Wyndham community and was focused on understanding the implications of the current disruptions.It said it was engaging with relevant stakeholders to explore the options available to support the continuity of services.