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1_฀ Community฀Suppor t฀Service฀Scheme฀—฀ Project฀Phoeni x฀ Koon-mei Lee The issu e o f youth-at-ris k (YAR ) ha s raise d muc h concer n fro m th e public an d th e government . Ther e i s a n outcr y fo r mor e allocatio n o f resources fo r service s t o th e YAR , and more fundin g shoul d b e poole d into relate d services . Th e recen t expansio n o f Communit y Suppor t Service Scheme s (CSSSs) , Distric t Outreachin g Service , Youn g Nigh t Drifters Servic e et c ar e som e typica l example s (SWD , 2002b). Project Phoeni x — Community Suppor t Servic e Scheme (PP-CSSS ) is on e o f th e existin g servic e project s fo r YAR . Th e ter m "youth-at risk " has taken on some broad connotations but in the current context , it refer s t o thos e juvenile s age d fro m 1 0 t o belo w 1 8 wh o hav e committed trivia l offence s an d hav e bee n pu t unde r th e Polic e Superintendents' Discretion Schem e (PSDS) , that is the clientele of PP. Any youngster ha s the chance to fall into this category. They may jus t be normal youth who happen to act against the law in a certain context . Despite th e trivia l natur e o f man y juvenil e offences , i t shoul d no t b e overlooked a s it is upsetting both t o societ y an d the victims. With th e existence o f th e YAR , societ y i s at-ris k too . O n th e contrary , youn g people ar e riskin g thei r futur e i f the y canno t b e mad e awar e o f th e negative consequences o f their offences . P P is based on the philosoph y of helpin g th e yout h clarif y value s an d exer t som e contro l ove r themselves, to help them make choices about their own lives and future . Besides, it also serves to fill the service gap that no other youth servic e has eve r targete d before . A review report i n 199 7 (Lo et al.) has confirme d th e effectivenes s and supporte d th e establishmen t o f CSSS s in helping young offenders , a kin d o f YAR . Th e finding s o f th e stud y ar e valuabl e reference s fo r service providers and policy makers to know how far the projects wor k 76฀KOON-MEI ฀LEE฀ and what aspects of the projects have to be improved. The establishmen t of PP is not t o promote "ne t widening" , instea d i t provides voluntary based follow-u p servic e fo r th e cautione d juvenil e offender s an d thei r parents. Youngster s ar e bein g referre d t o P P du e t o a clear-cu t reaso n — la w breaking . Thei r need s a s reveale d fro m th e la w breakin g behaviours ar e multi-faceted. Thi s paper aims to introduce the Project , including its historical development, service objectives, guiding concepts and service contents. A current stud y exploring the effectiveness o f PP will als o b e introduced . Ho w th e service s o f th e Projec t coul d b e improved wil l be discusse d a t th e en d o f th e paper . Historical฀Developmen t฀o f฀Projec t฀Phoeni x฀ Project Phoenix — Community Suppor t Service Scheme originated fro m the Projec t Phoeni x Counsellin g Servic e which starte d o n 1s t Januar y 1992. "Phoenix " i s a lifelon g bir d i n legend . I t mean s "lif e beyon d death". We believe that the juveniles who have committed crime s hav e potential an d opportunitie s t o turn ove r a new leaf an d be law-abidin g citizens. Initially, the Project was a self-financed one-ma n project which wa s initiated by the Methodist Centr e...

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