About CABA Progressive
Our story
CABA Progressive started with a simple observation: the connections that used to hold communities together don't happen as naturally as they used to.
Photo: Shopify Photos / Burst
At the same time, we kept hearing the same specific problem from businesses: they wanted to offer students real work experience, but didn't know how. What's appropriate? What's required? What's actually useful for the student, rather than just a week of busywork?
That gap became the starting point for something bigger — CABA Progressive exists to be the connective layer between generations, education and business, starting with digital skills and work experience, and growing from there.
We're based in and built for the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Noosa regions — communities we know well and are proud to serve.
What CABA stands for
Collaboration
Across
Backgrounds
and Ages
What we do
We promote, coordinate and administer community-facing programs — and we partner with registered training organisations, schools and community groups to deliver them. CABA focuses on connection: bringing the right people together, and making sure funded programs reach the community they're meant to serve.
How we work
We're proudly independent and community-governed. Where we work with delivery partners — including registered training organisations — those relationships are formal, transparent, and structured to protect the integrity of the programs we run.
What we believe
Four ideas that shape every program we run.
Connection goes both ways
Every program we run is designed so everyone involved gets something real out of it — not just the person being "helped."
Structure creates safety
Good intentions aren't enough for something like work experience — people need clarity on purpose, expectations and boundaries.
Community should lead
We're not-for-profit and membership-based because the people this is for should have a say in how it runs.
No one should do this alone
Businesses, schools and community groups all have something to offer — our job is to make it easy for them to find each other.
A note from our founder
CABA Progressive started with a problem I kept hearing from two different directions at once.
Through my work running Learnivation, I heard from business after business who wanted to offer real work experience to students, but had no idea where to start — what's appropriate, what's required, or how to make it mean something more than a week of photocopying. At the same time, I watched how quickly mature community members get left behind as everyday life moves online, while young people have exactly the energy and skills to help — if there was ever a genuine reason for the two to meet.
CABA Progressive is that reason. It's deliberately independent — not an extension of my training business, but a community-led home where any school, business or local group across the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Noosa regions can be part of something bigger than any one of us could build alone.
If any of this sounds like your business, your school, or your community — I'd genuinely love to hear from you.