MACKAY'S newest initiative aiming to steer errant youth onto the right path has hit the ground running.

The Mackay Community Outreach Program, run by husband-wife pair Karen and Jim Cobb, aims to pair youths aged between 10 and 16 with a trained mentor, in the hope of steering them to the straight and narrow.

Their initiative was borne out of a need to address youth crime in town.

"I just got tired of hearing everyone say the police need to do this and the police need to do that, and I was like, you know what, you can be out there saying what can we do,” Mrs Cobb said.

"In some of these situations it's the fact that there's, especially for young boys, not a male figure present, sometimes it's a family breakdown and sometimes the kids have just rebelled against both parents for some reason.”

The program has hit the ground running, with the first round of mentor training complete. Nine mentors will be ready to go once they receive their blue cards.

"A few already have them so they are ready to go,” she said.

"We will be ready to match them up with youths in need of the service.”

The couple hope to get more men involved as mentors. The training lasts six hours and the mentoring commitment is a minimum of two hours fortnightly.

The next round of training will be held from July 10 to July 12 from 7pm to 9pm. Anyone interested can search Mackay Community Outreach Program on Facebook.