A final series of rehearsals are taking place this week ahead of a debutante ball on Friday in Hargreaves Mall.
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The Ball in the Mall is helping bring traders and young people together following concerns about anti-social behavior in Hargreaves Mall and the surrounding retail precinct.
Sergeant Matt Hunt is part of a Victoria Police tasking unit which was deployed to Hargreaves Mall earlier this year to engage with the community and clamp down on those disrupting shoppers.
He said police officers’ conversations with young people found many of those not causing trouble did not feel accepted.
The tasking unit helped ball organisers identify groups of teenagers who could benefit from community engagement.
“We are not rewarding bad kids or troublemakers. The kids taking part in Ball in the Mall volunteered after being identified through educational and work experience programs,” Sergeant Hunt said.
Ball organiser Haylee Kennedy said the event came about after observing young people change into suits for an employment program run by Anglicare.
“We noticed how much better they felt in a suit,” she said.
Suits, dresses, make-up and dance lessons are to be donated by local businesses. Hot rods will be on hand to take debutants and debutantes to the ball.
Couples would then be presented in the mall before performing a number of traditional dances to modern music.
“It’s about making (young people) feel special and giving them opportunities they might never have had,” Mrs Kennedy said, noting not all schools in the city held debutante balls.
Sergeant Hunt said he had noticed a change in those taking part since rehearsals began, and not just in their footwork.
“In the last few weeks the kids have been rehearsing you can just see their self-confidence going up,” Sergeant Hunt said.
“Some of these kids can be very withdrawn and won’t necessarily venture out and see all the things they could. This just shows them what is out there and that they can be a part of it.”
Mrs Kennedy said the new and closer bonds with young people were also benefiting traders in the CBD.
Recently ball participants visiting Peter Anthony Menswear helped defuse a tense situation with another young person.
The Ball in the Mall takes place on Friday evening.