Who are we?

The Sunshine Coast Coalition of Community Boards Cooperative Ltd has a simple, yet very effective structure that has enabled the COCB to attract resources and partner with others for many years.

As a Co-op, we are committed to co-operative principles.

For many years Caloundra Community Centre Inc. has provided administrative and managerial support, enabling the COCB to continue its important work of supporting small community boards.

cocb current members

One of our founding members, with a passion for governance of small community-based organisations as critical social infrastructure. Community Praxis Co-operative Ltd; Nambour Community Centre; Community Development Queensland Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the Sunshine Coast, teaching community development and critical social policy advocacy.

Athena (Tina) Lathouras

I joined the Caloundra Community Centre Management Committee after I retired from the position of CCC Manager because I wanted to reconnect with the place where I had invested so much of my life and that I loved so much. Because of my interest in community development and the important role unfunded Neighbourhood Centres and Volunteer Committee’s play in encouraging, maintaining and building local citizen participation I joined the Sunshine Coast Coalition of Community Boards around 2017.

Carolyn Nolan

A highly experienced community worker and organisational development for small to medium community based organisations. Governance matters are a key area of focus for her post graduate studies at Queensland University.

Bea Rogan

During her working life Lyndall worked in a range of government and non- government organisations; principally in the field of Community Development. After retirement in 2012 Lyndall continued to be involved with community sector organisations, through her membership of their management committees. Currently Lyndall is a member of the management committee of the Range Community Gym and Fitness Centre, Mapleton and District Community Association and the Sunshine Coast Coalition of Community Boards. In her spare time she practices visual arts through her membership of Blackall Range Visual Artists. Lyndall spends time with her 2 adult children and 6 grandchildren as often as she can.

Lyndall Hulme

Sharyn has been serving on Committees and Boards for the last 48 years and has been involved with diverse range of community organisation and assisted in a wide range of capacities. Sharyn, has learnt to understand and navigate the governance landscape and is always interested in the various ways other groups work their way through their various situations. She has encountered, over the years, a wide variety of experiences and several quite unique situations. Her forte includes general organisational governance, Constitutions and Rule Books, Risk Management, and strategic planning. Sharyn enjoys learning about other peoples’ experiences and challenges. She welcomes the opportunity to work with individuals and groups to develop appropriate organisation centred solutions. She believes all organisations have commonalities and each is also unique in how they serve their community and its members.

Sharyn Innes

Tomas Passeggi is the Manager of Caloundra Community Centre Inc. More than a manager, Tomas sees himself as a grassroots community development worker, passionate about community connections and the power of small locality based organisations to harness people’s engagement in civic society and participatory democracy. Born and raised in South America, Tomas understands the complexities of working with disenfranchised communities and people affected by poverty, disadvantage, oppression of indigenous people and those with low or no political agency. Tomas graduated with a bachelor of Social Sciences (Community Work ) from the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2007. He has worked across the community sector from ageing to youth homelessness and for the past 15 year has been the Community Development Coordinator at the Caloundra Community Centre and Coordinator of Baringa Community Centre for the past 2 years. Tomas is an Honorary Senior Fellow of the University of the Sunshine Coast and besides his committee work with Neighbourhood Centres Queensland he also sits as a Queensland representative on the board of ANHCA (Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Associations), committee member of The Coalition of Community Boards and on the Community Development Institute Initiative.

Tomas Passeggi

Ian brings a wealth of experience to community organisations, underpinned by his DipTeaching (Primary and Special Education), GradDip Reading, and GradDip Management qualifications. His long involvement in such groups has given him a practical understanding of their inner workings, particularly in financial management and governance. Ian's expertise is grounded in real-world experience, much of it gained through learning from past mistakes, giving him valuable insights into what truly works. Ian has been involved with establishing a few community organisations over the years, including this one. He has long been involved with Rotary at the Cub and District levels and currently volunteers as the Co-ordinator of the North-East NILS program, based at Kalinga.

Ian Hope

our team

The Co-op through the Sunshine Coast Council Community Partnership Grant contracts Howard Buckley and Nike Adityarini to undertake the work of COCB

Howard Buckley

Project Coordinator

Howard is the part-time Project Coordinator with the Sunshine Coast Coalition of Community Boards. He has been in the role for over 2 years. He began his journey in community work in 1980s cutting his teeth doing voluntary work with young people and refugees in Goodna and joining with his friends to build a vocation in community work. He has held community work roles in local government and in a range of community organisations in southeast QLD. He is also a long-term Director and worker with Community Praxis Co-op. After more than 30 years living in Maleny Howard recently moved to Caloundra with his partner Lisa and is very involved in the life of his two young grandchildren and loves being their Poppy. As a resident of Maleny he was involved in much voluntary community work including being a founding member of the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre being on the management committee for 18 years, most of those years as President. Howard is passionate about community work and is keen to share his experience and stories through training opportunities.

Nike (Nika) Adityarini

Administration and Communications

Formerly a Lifestyle Editor at a fashion magazine, Nike specialised in developing engaging lifestyle, fashion, and educational content, including articles and photo shoots. Upon relocating to the Sunshine Coast, she founded Marble+Blossoms, where one of her achievements was collaborating with an international wedding dress designer for New York Fashion Week 2016. Currently, she is with the Caloundra/Baringa Community Centre, where she manages all communications work for the organisations, such as social media, website design and content, also newsletters. Additionally, she works with the Diverse Queensland Workforce program to support multicultural individuals in finding employment opportunities on the Sunshine Coast.

The COCB is supported with technical expertise by Kiki Fong Lim. This voluntary assistance is gratefully appreciated by the COCB.