We did it.

We stopped the sale of 179 Inkerman St, home to the St Kilda PCYC for over 50 years. The CEO is no longer with the organisation. The Board is working to ensure that member voting rights are restored and have committed to make way for a new board to be elected by club members at the next AGM.

Glen Macann - the same PCYC volunteer who followed the now the former CEO in that interview with Ali Moore - has been appointed by the current Board as a caretaker CEO to manage the transition and is fulfilling this role in a voluntary capacity. The current Board has sought an extension from Consumer Affairs on the timing of the AGM which will happen in February. That means that the notice for the meeting and a call for nominations will be sent soon. 

Volunteers will be critical for St Kilda PCYC to be a successful, community run organisation. It’s important to stress: you don’t need to be on the Board to have a meaningful impact. Matching your skills to very specific, time bound jobs means that there’s clarity on what needs to happen and which people are best suited to do it. It also means that the work doesn’t fall to just a couple of people. With that in mind, task and job descriptions are being written for all kinds of volunteer positions and soon an invitation will be sent out for people to register their skills and see what best suits them.

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It’s been an intense couple of months. Early on, people asked me why I cared so much about the St Kilda PCYC. Fair question given that until September 3, my only connection was taking my son to basketball training on Thursday mornings. I was vaguely aware of the youth programs, but not in detail. What was it about this particular issue?

To answer that, I need to share a little about my experience, which is eclectic to say the least. Artist. MBA. Tech worker. Furniture maker. Volunteer. Involved parent.  There’s no real through line and because of that, I have a lot of different lenses that I can view the world through. When I saw the email announcing the gym’s imminent closure, my MBA lens locked onto the words “…due to the lack of historical context and situational awareness…” explaining why no council, state or federal support would be forthcoming. I saw those words as corporate double speak designed to bamboozle readers and minimise individual accountability. In other words: the two previous CEOs and Board members failed to engage stakeholders for years. 

At the same time, I was reading about RSL sub-branches in NSW having their assets taken over over by corporate interests. Cohealth suddenly decided things were too hard and anounced that they would close 3 clinics - now deferred to mid 2026.  Be wary of any not-for-profit that talks about “theory of change” in their annual reports and comms (I’m looking at you, Eco Centre). Swinburne University, after having been gifted by the state government a building that houses a community run daycare and kindergarten gave the kinder its eviction notice and is selling the building. And here was St Kilda PCYC, an independent incorporated association and registered charity with a community owned asset seemingly heading down the same path.

I was perplexed at how many people (members and non-members alike) were unaware of what it means to be a member of an association (or even what it is). And I felt sad about how many people knew less than I did about the work St Kilda PCYC did with young people and only saw the inconvenience of the gym closing as the main issue.

But there was one more thing that really lit the fire. And it was the language of the CEO and Board, in particular, the “because I said so” vibe of all of their comms. Being a neurodivergent first born child of the 80s that likes to know why something is, their attitude was triggering to say the least. The irony is that had the Board acted in accordance with its own constitution, they would have likely achieved their objectives - or would have discovered other opportunities within the community. But I guess that’s the problem with hubris.

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This campaign began with a Google Form shared in the WhatsApp chat of the St Kilda Primary Grade 1 parents. By then, I had already deep dived on St Kilda PCYC’s constitution, annual reports, financial statements and changes on the board going back to 2013 to reconstruct a timeline of events to try and understand the current situation. There were (and still are!) a lot questions and those first few weeks were spent figuring out which ones were most important. 

All the while, it was like shouting into a void. No feedback, no engagement, lots of gaslighting and absolutely no good will from the CEO and Board. Mid way through, it all looked lost so new questions were asked: what if we spun up a social enterprise to self fund and deliver programs? What if we offered to lease and operate the facilities? What if we bought the equipment? What does “winning” look like, anyway? On that last question, there was clarity: a board that is representative of the community it serves and sector that it operates in, that respects its membership, engages with the local community and prioritises its youth programs.

It looks like that’s the path we’re on.

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There are many people to thank.

Chloe Dickson and Stevie Hill were amongst the first people I connected with. They were both program participants and later, employees of St Kilda PCYC. They rallied others to share their stories which we compiled into the 179 Stories booklet and were formidable community representatives at a round table meeting with the CEO, Board and government and community stakeholders.

Glen Macann, long time volunteer and veteran executive (with time!) brought an extraordinary amount of context, laser focus, and was a wiling game partner as we mapped out permutations of what might happen.

Bree Hankinson, whose on the ground experience delivering programs for young people helped us to keep an eye on the future - wherever that might have taken us.

Mark Campbell, another long time member and co-founder of Clubmap - a business that helps clubs to become community driven - showed us actual examples of business models that work.

This “round table crew” helped land the message that the original plan was unacceptable, and that the community not only wanted consultation but had viable alternatives.

Thank you to Josh Burns MP who gave a significant amount of his limited time advocating and speaking with many of us in the community. Josh also gave a speech on St Kilda PCYC in parliament, highlighting just important the organisation - and its building! - is to the St Kilda community. 

Senator Steph Hodgins-May, Angelica Di Camillo and John Green were very supportive, especially in the early days (when I really didn’t know what I was doing), helping me to organise my research and present a clear call to action on the petition not to mention helping to get eyeballs on the petition. They also fed many of you at the community breakfast BBQ!

Thank you to Councillor Serge Thomann for ensuring our submission to council was received and whose generosity of time and commitment to help us find alternative pathways to continue to deliver programs that matter afforded us the opportunity to plan for a different outcome. 

Thank you to Councillor Libby Buckingham for her ongoing advocacy for a community hall at St Kilda Primary and for highlighting the important role that St Kilda PCYC plays in providing students with access to space in a suburb where space is limited.

And thank you to all the City of Port Phillip councillors who read our submission.

To Nicholas Porter, Nadav Zisin and Charlie McFadden, thank you for your insight and regular history lessons on St Kilda PCYC.

To Taras Sobol and Sonya Stephen, the first members I connected with and the first to get sight of the register before the goalposts moved—thanks for putting up with my many interruptions.

Thank you to Peter Coomey whose perspective completely changed my understanding of the CEO’s strategy and whose understanding of political processes meant that motions raising the issue with the ALP Prahran Branch were successful in October and November.

Thank you to Gerry McLoughlin whose knowledge of the media landscape and swift action led to the Ali Moore Drive interview. Like Peter, Gerry also knows how governance processes work and was instrumental in bringing together the annual members and masters that weren’t in the same digital channels as the rest of us.

There are also other leaders of purpose driven, community run organisations whose time and insight was invaluable and informed much of our future thinking (especially when we thought we’d need to find something else). They were:

Tarryn Holland, early childhood education specialist and co-ordinator of the St Kilda Balaclava Kindergarten; 

Lisa Abbott, founder of Powered for Purpose;

Liz Brown, Acting principal of LOOKOUT NW. 

And finally: thank you, the petitioners. Being on the other side of a petition taught me that it really does make a difference—especially if you chip in for the ads to spread the word (which I’ll do next time I sign one). An extra thank you to those who left comments; they mattered.

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Stay tuned for a volunteer registration link!