Waverley Action for Youth Services

Waverley Action for Youth Services (WAYS) is the Youth Service of the Waverley area of Sydney, Australia - famous for Bondi Beach. WAYS Youth Services has been existence for around 20 years and has branched out from a small Youth Centre by the beach to an organisation offering everything from weekend camps to drug and alcohol counselling. Employing almost 40 staff members, WAYS also relies heavily on community volunteers and financial support.

The WAYS Youth Centre is on Wairoa Avenue, Bondi Beach, and hosts a variety of activities, including music competitions for young unsigned bands. Bondi Live Youth Music Project (BLYMP) being the most commonly occurring. The Battle of the Bands is also hugely successful. After a stabbing in 2004, the security at these events was reviewed in conjunction with the Waverley Council and extra measures were put in place.

WAYS started out as a community effort to address the issues faced by young people hanging around Bondi Beach in the 80s. The Youth Centre soon became a success and WAYS began expanding. It now has branches in Bondi Beach, Bondi Junction, Maroubra, Redfern and Double Bay. WAYS collaborates also with a variety of other Youth Services, including The Shack in Kensington, Salvation Army OASIS in Surry Hills, the Factory in Redfern and Caretakers Cottage Youth Refuge in Bondi. WAYS has gone from running just a youth centre to many Australian Government and NSW State Government programs expanding it's clientele to many different target groups - generally from 11-25 years of age.

WAYS have contracts for the following Government supported programs:
*Job Network - Department of Workplace Relations (Youth Clients only - 15-26)
*JPET - Department of Workplace Relations (Job, Placement, Education and Training - 15-21)
*Personal Support Program - Department of Workplace Relations (PSP - 15-26)
*Juvenile Justice - Employment Skilling Program (ESP)
*Youth Drug and Alcohol Court (Run with Salvation Army)

In 2005, the Waverley Council Youth Worker John Gilbert drafted a Youth Protocol for the Bondi Junction CBD after a number of complaints from businesses about street gangs and general loitering. WAYS Youth Services (a partner of Waverley Council) was heavily involved in the program, with youth workers recruiting young people for interviews and involvement in the development of the protocol. It has since become an Australia wide model for this type of protocol.

The CEO of Waverley Youth Services is Russell King, who has been with the organisation for 15 years.

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