Away at the youth centre (3)
I believe the answer is:
out
'away' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'the youth centre' is the wordplay.
'centre' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letters of 'youth' are 'OUT'.
'at' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for out that I've seen before include "Extinguished; abroad" , "impossible" , "Defeated" , "At fault - dismissed" , "Disnmissed (cricket)" .)