Contact PCYC
Queensland Police-Citizens Youth Welfare Association
ABN 58 009 666 193
Postal address:
QPCYWA
GPO Box 1440
Brisbane Q 4001
Registered office:
30 Graystone Street Tingalpa QLD 4173
(07) 3909 9555 [Phone]
(07) 3909 9533 [Fax]
Click here to contact State Office
Branch Contacts:
Click here for individual PCYC branch contact details.
State Office Staff
CEO
Rob Fiedler
Professional Qualifications: Bachelor of Business – Management; Certificate IV in Community Services
Rob is a Senior Sergeant in the Queensland Police Service who has worked around PCYCs for over 20 years. Rob managed the Logan City PCYC for 16 years and has worked in senior management roles in the PCYC State Office for the past 6 years. He has been the acting CEO since July 2006.
A strong belief in providing opportunities for young people to reach their potential in life through – supporting them to follow their personal goals – has maintained Rob’s drive over the many years he has given to the community in both the youth development and sporting sector.
His interest in PCYC stems from his vision in the development of a more efficient youth sector where resources are more openly shared and duplication of services are lessened. He believes that PCYCs provide a key community resource to provide whole community participation in addressing the needs of young people in each of the 45 communities where PCYCs operate.
Rob’s policing focus is not to clear up rates of youth crime but rather the absence of involvement of youth in crime.
Corporate Services Manager / Company Secretary
Mark Walker
Professional Qualifications: BA Rec Man, MBA
Mark is an experienced professional who has worked for the past twenty years in private, educational and not-for-profit industries in Queensland. Mark has gained experience at a variety of levels and has developed a broad skill base. He is focused on planning and development to enhance both organisational and community outcomes.
His studies include a BA in Recreation Management and Masters of
Business Administration. He is currently completing a Graduate Diploma
in Corporate Governance. Mark has served at board and committee level
on a variety of local, state and national sport and recreation
organisations.
As the Corporate Services Manager for the Queensland Police-Citizens Youth
Welfare Association, Mark oversees the corporate function of a large
not-for-profit public company including the role of company secretary.
Mark sees PCYC as an integral part of a number of Queensland communities, providing a range of services to support the individual needs of each community. PCYC is a recognised leader in the field of youth development providing a range of services across all levels of the community.
Whilst much of the work of PCYC is unrecognised, and our best promotional tool is word of mouth, Mark attributes the success of PCYC to the efforts of our volunteers and staff.
State Coordinator - Training and Development
Chris Stafford
Chris has been a serving member of the Queensland Police Service since 1991 and experienced his first involvement with Police Citizens Youth Clubs in 1998, when he joined the Mackay PCYC management committee and did a stint as relief branch manager. He then moved to Brisbane where he worked at the Crime Prevention Unit before commencing with QPCYWA in December 2001.
PCYCs-State Indigenous Partnership Coordinator
Andrea (Andy) Cassidy
Professional Qualifications: Certificate IV in Community Services Youth Work; Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessing; Tertiary training in Teaching.
Andy has worked within the community welfare sector for twelve years and gained invaluable experience in a crisis support service for the first five, supporting children and youth escaping domestic violence.
Looking for a change, she joined the Queensland Police Citizens Youth Welfare Association and began a very exciting journey in community development as a regional community partnership coordinator extending across central and northern Queensland.
In 2004 she played a key role in the establishment of the Palm Island PCYC branch amidst a very challenging time for its community. The challenges and successes from this role became the catalyst for the creation of a new position – the State Indigenous Partnership Coordinator.
This role is pivotal in providing direct support, resourcing and a training mechanism to the branch manager, advisory committee, staff and volunteers of the indigenous-based PCYC branches at Yarrabah, Palm Island and Mornington Island.
A key function of Andy’s role is to establish and maintain strong relationships with government and non-government funding agencies and corporate sector to broker funding to support program delivery and day to day PCYC operations within these isolated indigenous communities.
Andy is passionate about the work she has done and continues to do, now with Indigenous Community Development. She has seen first-hand the impact of PCYC programs/activities across the communities in which we operate. It’s the diversity that PCYC offers, as a package of facilities and programs, that is the key to our successes.
PCYC prides itself on the ability to establish programs and activities that shape children and young people into active and contributing members of their community now, in preparation for their leadership roles as adults in the future.
North Queensland Community Partnership Coordinator
Rebecca Pola
Professional Qualifications: Bachelor of Arts (QUT); Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) (JCU); Certificate IV in Training & Assessment
Over the years Rebecca has worked in a variety of community development fields including crisis accommodation and youth. She spent four years employed at the Mackay City Council as their Youth Development Officer and was involved in several programs that were of great benefit to the community including the creation and implementation of Caneland Central’s Youth Protocol. She has also had in depth experience in the fields of risk management and event management throughout her career.
For Rebecca, PCYC’s role is to reflect the needs and wants of its community through the provision of activities, programs, events and projects. PCYCs act as a central hub to their communities, encouraging and supporting community members to experience different areas of interest in a safe and comfortable environment.
PCYCs are essential in the establishment of community support, interactions and relationships, allowing members to get together and share their life experiences.
Central Queensland Community Partnership Coordinator
Ellen (Ellie) Tarver
(Based in Rockhampton, supporting nine branches from Whitsunday down to Hervey Bay).
Ellie has been a family and youth support worker for around 20 years,
and has been involved in community development in a number of the towns
where she has worked. For most of her working life she has been
involved with young people in a paid position or as a volunteer.
Since 1988 she has worked solidly with young people and their families – except for a three-year stint when she took time out to run two hotels in Central West Queensland, (this was like working with kids only they were older).
During the three years prior to her involvement with QPCYWA, she ran a youth centre in Mount Morgan, working mainly with indigenous families, and says that those three years while very challenging were very rewarding, teaching her so much about tolerance and acceptance that now she doesn’t “stress the small stuff”.
In October 2006 Ellie started with the QPCYWA and admits that until she
applied for the position she had no idea about the number of branches
or the programs and activities that PCYC offered.
Ellie values PCYC as a vital part of the community, providing a safe secure environment to run programs for the littlies right through to the seniors and covering so many programs, activities, and events from health and fitness, to all types of child care.
Ellie would like to see PCYC promoted more in the towns were they are located, to educate the community on what we make available to young people, such as our Youth Leadership Programs. Ellie sees PCYC as a high quality, accountable resource with positive community outcomes. She is committed to the growth and expansion of PCYC’s youth programs and crime prevention programs, so as to further encompass the needs of young people and thus benefit the whole community.
Youth Engagement Coordinator – South East Queensland
Stephen Tillston
Stephen has been working with the youth sector for over ten years in as an Adventure Development Facilitator. His training started in 1996 at the foot of the Scottish Highlands, where he was employed as a volunteer instructor for an outdoor centre run by Edinburgh City Council. After a period of time he went from part-time to full-time. The clients ranged from schools, youth at risk and corporate groups.
Moving to Australia was the next step in Stephen’s career with youth development; here he worked with PCYC Bornhoffen as an Adventure Development Consultant. He had the opportunity to be part of some crime prevention programs such as Bridging the Gap – Innisfail PCYC and the ‘Catalyst Program’.
Today in his position of Youth Engagement Coordinator for South East Queensland, he has the opportunity to engage the youth with his knowledge of PCYC and also to coordinate activities and programs to develop young people personally and socially.
Community Development Division Support
Dane Cross
Professional Qualifications: Bachelor of Exercise Science
Dane’s role within PCYC has evolved over a number of years: beginning as a Junior Child Care Assistant in 1995, he worked intermittently in this role while undertaking studies in Exercise Science and Education (with the aim of becoming a Physical Education teacher). However, a sporting accident in 2001 confined him to a wheelchair, preventing him from further pursuing his teaching career.
Dane returned to PCYC as a volunteer with Bornhoffen. It was here that he discovered a knack for grant writing and was soon picked up by the Beenleigh PCYC and employed as a part-time ‘Funding Support Officer’.
In 2006, an opportunity to assist with the planning/organisation of the State Youth Management Conference arose with the State Office and he jumped at the chance. This position led to a permanent part-time position assisting in the Community Development Division with the State Youth Leadership Program, Grants and Administration, which is his current role.
In the future Dane hopes to become more active in assisting with program delivery whilst maintaining his current roles in grant writing and administrative support.
In Dane’s eyes, PCYC’s role in the community has evolved to become more than a just a provider of boxing and gymnastics. Once you look past its child care, recreational and sporting exterior – which are vitally important services in their own right – you begin to realise that the organisation is doing some pretty wonderful things to positively affect the lives of young people.
Through its numerous Crime Prevention, Early Intervention, Youth Welfare and Youth Leadership programs, the Association really is improving communities through youth development. Dane personally derives great satisfaction from being involved with an organisation that is achieving such positive outcomes.