Individuals and organizations that cite "youth initiatives" as a way to obtain tax dollars should undergo the rigorous tasks of proving the viability and productivity of the initiative. All to often we see individuals/organizations sprang up out of no where with elaborate plans citing "youth development" as the basic premise for tax funding. This funding is sometimes provided without proper vetting or a system in place to monitor long and short term results. The probability of waste, fraud and abuse are very high with these type of initiatives. For example: when one uses the term "public service" to describe the functions of an individual or organization, this suggests that the tax paying public is financially obligated for this "public service". Many times the functions or services of these organizations are not based on an Constitutional obligation by local, state or federal agencies to warrant tax funding. Therefore, youth services should be and remain an altruist endeavor funded by philanthropic means.

public service in my openion

I am a Child and Youth Worker working toward a social work degree. I live in Canada and here, there are some Child and Youth Workers who work in the public sector and some who work in the private sector. I work for a government funded organization and many of us work for Children's Aid or Child and Family Services or the School Board. Here we also have all levels of government involved in providing funding for youth services. Federal, Provincial and Municipal. In my organization, the Provincial Government gives funding to the Municipal government and then the municipality provides funding to non-profit organizations to provide government regulated programs. OR the municipality basically does a needs assessment for what services are needed in the community, they apply for funding from the government and when they receive funding they may designate a particular organization as the lead organization for that service, such as children's mental health and that organization offers the service and/or coordinates similar services in the community. Yes, I think there are obviously some services that should be specifically the government's responsibility to uphold, children have rights and we have to maintain and uphold them, but sometimes government funded programs have long wait lists because they don't have enough funding and because they offer services for free, so I think it's beneficial to also have private organizations too that can alleviate some of the stress put on public services and free up spaces for low income families who need the services, since higher income families are able to pay for private services. Does this help?