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Neighbourhood and community centres strategic repositioning

Neighbourhood and community centres (NCCs) are the cornerstones of our communities and play a vital role in connecting and supporting people experiencing social isolation and loneliness.

They provide critical social infrastructure, play a key part in building community connection and cohesion, and provide services and supports that help the lives of hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders that visit NCCs each year.

The Queensland Government is committed to working in partnership with neighbourhood and community centres to ensure more people can be connected to the support and services they need in their local community.

Neighbourhood and Community Centres Strategic Repositioning Committee

In 2021, the department commenced the NCC Strategic Repositioning Project, which included formation of the Neighbourhood and Community Centres Strategic Repositioning Committee in May 2021.

The role of the committee is to create and facilitate a contemporary NCC strategic framework to support the work of 127 government-funded NCCs in Queensland and the broader NCC system.

The refreshed strategic framework will guide financial investment, strengthen best practices, and build a contemporary and networked service model that responds to a wide range of community needs.

Committee tenure and deliverables

The strategic framework being developed by the committee includes three core components:

  1. An Agreed Purpose Framework, to provide a clear strategy for NCCs and to underpin place-based operational service models and principles, with explicit focus on community diversity, including First Nations peoples, diverse cultural and linguistic communities, people with disability; and agility to adjust services to changing local community needs and strengths based on data and evidence. The Agreed Purpose framework will capture the evolving role of NCCs, including in-reach service planning and the move towards planning at the network level with key local service partners.
  2. An Investment Framework for both recurrent and capital funding, which is robust, fair, and equitable.
  3. A Performance and Reporting Framework to underpin measurement of NCC’s role in improving social, economic, digital and cultural outcomes for Queenslanders.

The Committee provides advice and expertise regarding the directions and content of the strategic framework, and will advise the department on:

  • an Engagement and Communications Strategy to ensure the voices of the sector and other key stakeholders are heard in the project
  • a Strategic Implementation Plan to guide effective and efficient implementation of agreed directions.

Committee membership

The committee consists of a cross-section of stakeholders with experience and knowledge of NCCs and their key stakeholders and client groups. It includes the following representatives:

Name Position, Organisation

Mr Gary Adsett

Group Manager, Social Impact, YMCA

Ms Mara Basanovic

CEO, Volunteering Queensland

Mr Matthew Cox

Executive Director, The Bryan Foundation

Ms Karen Dare

CEO, Communify

Ms Belinda Drew

CEO, Community Services Industry Alliance

Ms Sandra Elton

Manager, North Townsville Community Hub / Queensland Community Alliance representative

Ms Nyoka Fetoa’i

CEO, Darumbal Community Youth Service

Ms Louise Judge

Manager, Chinchilla Community Centre

Mr Tomas Passeggi

President, Neighbourhood Centres Queensland

Dr Nancy Spencer

Executive in Residence, Policy Innovation Hub, Griffith University

Ms Lauren Stephenson

Committee Member, Kingston East Neighbourhood Group

Ms Tanya Stevenson

CEO, Hervey Bay NCC

Ms Regina Turner

President, Mura Kosker Sorority Inc

Ms Louise Howard, Acting Deputy Director-General, Community Services is the Chair of the Committee, and secretariat for the committee is provided by the department.

Committee meeting communiques

More information

Find out more about neighbourhood and community centres.

Last updated: 
28 September 2022