Providing help and creating hope in Maine
Catholic Charities Maine Earns National Accreditation
Portland, ME -- Catholic Charities Maine (CCM) has earned national re-accreditation through the Washington, DC-based Council on Accreditation (COA), an independent, not-for-profit accreditor of community-based behavioral health care and social service organizations.
Since 1988, CCM has participated in the Council’s voluntary and lengthy review process to ensure it is fulfilling its mission to deliver excellence in all categories of services — from social services around mental health, counseling, substance use disorders, senior outreach, and child development, to addressing food insecurity and refugee and immigration, among others.
The reviewer comments regarding the Agency speak for themselves, and include: “CCM promotes dignity, transparency, and mutual respect throughout the organization,” and “The staff is passionate about the mission of the organization and the services they provide. The clients interviewed expressed gratitude for feeling hopeful for a quality of life that they had not previously been able to attain.”
“Earning this accreditation again and hearing such positive feedback from our reviewers speaks to our commitment to our mission,” says Stephen Letourneau, CEO of CCM. “Our team of nearly 500 employees gives 110 percent in providing the very best services and exceeding our clients’ expectations for those services. The COA assessment team consistently commented about the passion, dedication, and professionalism they saw while interacting with our team. For such a large social service agency offering diverse, statewide services, this is an exceptional achievement.”
COA accreditation is an objective, independent, and reliable validation of an agency’s performance. The COA accreditation process involves a detailed review and analysis of an organization’s administration, management, and service delivery functions against international standards of best practice. The standards driving accreditation ensure that services are well-coordinated, culturally competent, evidence-based, outcomes-oriented, and provided by a skilled and supported workforce.
Organizations pursue accreditation to demonstrate that they are implementing best practice standards in the field of human services. Based on their findings, COA’s volunteer-based Accreditation Commission voted that CCM had successfully met the criteria for accreditation through 2025.
About the Council of Accreditation
Founded in 1977, COA is an independent, not-for-profit accreditor of the full continuum of community-based behavioral health care and social service organizations in the United States and Canada. Over 2,000 organizations — voluntary, public, and proprietary; local and statewide; large and small — have either successfully achieved COA accreditation or are currently engaged in the process. COA has a total of 47 service standards that are applicable to over 125 different types of programs. To learn more about COA, please visit www.COAnet.org.
About Catholic Charities Maine
For more than 50 years, Catholic Charities Maine has provided high-quality, community-based social services to people of all faiths, beliefs, and economic backgrounds. As one of the largest human service agencies in the state, we are committed to helping children and adults overcome adversity and achieve self-sufficiency. To learn more, please visit www.ccmaine.org or call 1-800-781-8550.
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