Langley youth outreach bus program to shut down due to lack of funding

WATCH: There are concerns about the impending loss of a service that some at-risk youth in Langley have come to rely on.

The Project Reach Out bus program, a mobile drop-in centre for at-risk youth, will shut down at the end of the month unless new funding can be found.

The youth outreach buses have been driving around the Tri-Cities every Friday and Saturday for about 10 years, providing a safe place for young people.

In 2011, the program expanded to Langley with the help of grants, but now the money has run out and the project is set to close.

“To do a program like Langley’s, for example, costs about $120,000 on average for the program here to operate two nights a week, all year round with four or five staff and the costs that come with the maintenance of the bus,” says Jerome Bouvier, executive director of Project Reach Out, which is run by the Tri-Cities-based Access Youth Outreach Services.

Bouvier has gone to Langley City Council to ask for funding, but that has raised more questions about who should pay–civic governments or the province.

“Some people might argue that your program is simply accommodating what government itself should be doing,” said Langley City Councillor Dave Hall during a council meeting.

Bouvier says he is looking for a long-term solution.

During the time the bus has been in Langley, Access says they have connected with more than 4,000 street-involved young people, offering crisis intervention and information on drug prevention and sexual health, not to mention a warm and safe place to hang out.

If more stable funding isn’t found the bus will be parked for good come March 28.

-with files from Jill Bennett