The Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership has been granted funding for a project in the North-West suburbs of the city.
The group has received €25,000 to conduct a review of any issues in the area and how they can be tackled.
Seán Aylward is the Chair of the partnership.
"That funding will help to find out from the local people what their concerns and issues are and what the preferred approach would be and the solutions they would like brought forward," he told WLR News.
"I think life opportunties is a very important theme.
"People need a purpose in life. They need to know opportunity is there for them.
"And opportunity is there, but very often people know about it."
Mr Aylward is a former Secretary General at the Department of Justice, as well as a former Director General of the Irish Prison Service.
He is the first chairperson of this partnership, which is a pilot programme and only up and running this year.
Continuing, he said, "Before we look for further investment in that space, in those suburbs, we need to know what the people on the ground want.
"So that's an active piece of social research. I'm hoping to build it in with a review conducted by Healthy Ireland to find out about the other needs - not just the needs in terms of social control and comunity safety, but also maybe the need for health supports to encourage healthy lifestyles and life opportunities in that area."
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