Craig Smiley is a lawyer, a proud Woodridge local, and a past Chair of YFS’ Board.
“I’m Woodridge born and bred, so I always knew about YFS.”
Craig volunteered at the Logan Legal Advice Centre (LLAC) which held its clinics at the police station on Railway Parade in Woodridge. It was from there that he came to know YFS professionally when LLAC was absorbed into YFS and began holding clinics at 376 Kingston Rd.
“I used to come to YFS every Wednesday. I was here a lot, and I often talked with the staff and visitors.”
“One day, I asked [then CEO] Cath what you had to do to be on the Board here, and I was told, ‘if you’d like to be on the Board, you can be’. That was it, and thus I was on the committee.”
At the time, YFS still very much operated as it had when it was first established by the Christian Brothers in 1983. However, Craig quickly realised that the organisation had outgrown this noble “urban missionary” model and was in desperate need of strategic direction.
“Initially, the committees and the Board didn’t really act as a strategic body at all.”
“I remember talking with Cath one day and I was adamant that she could get more out of the Board in the way of maximising the organisation’s potential. It turns out that she was in absolute agreement with me.”
For Craig, who had progressed to Board Chairman by that time, reaching such an understanding with Cath was a pivotal moment in creating the YFS that exists today.
“Cath knew, and I eventually figured out, that we had to expand to survive.”
“We started to actively recruit people to sit on the Board because we recognised that we needed skills and expertise.”
Craig’s proudest moment with YFS was acquiring the building at 372 Kingston Rd, because it represented that the organisation was serious about its mission and presence in the community. Such a big step wasn’t without hardship, however, as unstable funding threatened to derail the Board’s strategic plan.
“We had terrible trouble trying to figure out how the structure underneath the CEO should work, because our funding was so volatile. We would implement an effective structure and then the funding would change, and we’d be at it all over again.”
YFS has persisted, however, and much of that is due to Craig’s commitment to developing a comprehensive organisational strategy. This approach has been a pillar of the organisation ever since and marked an important step in YFS establishing itself as a company limited by guarantee in 2013.
YFS’ presence and persistence are important for Craig because, for him, “it gives Logan what every community needs.”
“In every community, you need a place where people can go when they’re at their lowest.”
“YFS gives Logan a heart.”
