Clients: 2006

At Camp Kieve on the shores of Damariscotta Lake, we worked in “outdoor classrooms” with the senior management team of Bangor Hydro to develop team skills and appreciation of different personality styles.

In response to a recent legislative mandate, a coalition of organizations, including the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, the Maine Center for Economic Policy, the Muskie School of USM, and the DHHS Office of Elder Services, hired us to facilitate dialogue among health care providers, workers, and consumers. Our objective was to find common ground among these interests and develop consensus recommendations on the nature of a statewide registry of direct care workers.

DuPont (formerly FMC) manufactures carrageenan in Rockland, Maine. As part of its Responsible Care initiative, the company retained us to facilitate a community advisory panel. The group met every two months and served as a forum for learning and dialogue between plant managers and community leaders.

A large coalition of organizations that serve elderly in various ways banded together in a coalition and retained us to facilitate their monthly meetings which always consisted of exchanging information about state and federal policy initiatives and often included outside speakers on topics of interest. In addition, we provided complete secretariat services which included meeting write up and distribution, handling all correspondence, managing a website and list serve on behalf of the group, and arranging meeting facilities. The group tried to influence state policy to better serve elderly people. More recently, we were hired to facilitate a strategic planning meeting for the coalition.

Enterprise Maine, now called the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, hired us to work on several projects over the course of a whole year. We helped the Lake Region Development Council establish a strategic plan and organizational structure to achieve it. We helped the Naples Downtown Group get organized to serve as an advocate for the downtown. We helped the Enterprise Maine board develop a new strategic plan. We helped to build institutional capacity among the Oxford Hills Business Development Network and the Lakes Region Business Development Network. We helped to organize the region’s modular building companies into a Building Trades Workforce Collaborative designed to result in benefits for the partner companies and for the entire region. And we facilitated a public forum in Downtown Norway to gather public input on how to spend Community Development Block Grant funds.

This brand new non-profit corporation hired us to facilitate a full-day board retreat and prepare a resulting strategic plan.

This small yet highly effective nonprofit promotes preservation and revitalization of historic buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes and encourages high-quality new architecture in Portland and surrounding communities. They hired us to help board members implement a new committee structure and related board development.

This small non-profit promotes preservation and revitalization of historic buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes and encourages high-quality new architecture in Portland and surrounding communities. They hired us to help them better define staff roles and improve overall efficiency.

We were engaged to facilitate a Board Retreat for Greater Portland Landmarks, a nonprofit oprganization that promotes the preservation and revitalization of historic buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes and encourages high-quality new architecture to enhance the livability and economic vitality of Portland and surrounding communities. We also prepared notes of the meeting.

For the second year in a row, the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity – Bath/Brunswick Area hired us to facilitate their annual 2-day board retreat and update their strategic plan.

The Home Care Alliance of Maine, a statewide trade association, hired us to plan and facilitate their annual meeting of members. During a full-day meeting, we discussed the organization’s membership and dues structure, committee structures, and related issues. We also prepared a complete report of the meeting.

This statewide non-profit, consisting of home health care providers, hospice providers and other health care organizations, hired us to facilitate two meetings in order to develop recommendations to the state on how to ease administrative burdens on health care providers.

As they did six months ago, the board of directors of Kieve-Wavus Education, Inc. asked us to facilitate their full day board meeting. We also prepared a detailed meeting report.

Again, we facilitated the annual meeting of the Kieve-Wavus Education, Inc. Trustees on the shores of Damariscotta Lake.

On beautiful Mount Desert Island we spent a day with the board of directors of the Maine Assembly on School-Based Health Care. We helped the group decide their strategic priorities for the next five years and create a vision for school-based health centers, literally, on a huge 4’x8’ piece of paper!

In moving to a system of Managed Care for mental health and substance abuse treatment services, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services wanted to be sure and hear from stakeholders about what was working well and what should be improved. In collaboration with the Muskie School for Public Service, we were asked to facilitate and report on a series of 14 public meetings designed to gather input. We also established a website for the benefit of the stakeholders.

As in previous years, we were hired by the Maine Development Foundation to research and author Measures of Growth 2005, the annual report of indicators of Maine’s economic, community, and environmental well-being. The report is used by the governor, legislators, agency leaders, business leaders, and non-profits to assess the state’s economic, demographic, and environmental trends.

This volunteer collaborative of organizations and individuals who promote and facilitate environmental education hired us to facilitate their full-day board retreat intended to result in a strategic plan.

The Maine Health Access Foundation convened 200 people at the Augusta Civic Center to discuss integration of Maine’s mental, behavioral, and physical health systems. We provided several facilitators to manage the break-out sessions.

At beautiful Maple Hill Farm in Hallowell, we facilitated a full day conference for the members of the Maine Nutrition Network. About a hundred people attended. We helped the group decide their mission and specific areas of work for the next few years, along with how they should best be structured to achieve their goals. As follow up, we helped them write their strategic plan to be finalized at their annual meeting.

The Energy Division of the Maine Public Utilities Commission promotes the more efficient use of electricity statewide through Efficiency Maine and the Maine State Energy Program. They hired us to facilitate a full day staff retreat and help them develop a resulting strategic plan.

In various capacities, including volunteer Board Chair, Craig has served as a consultant to the Merriconeag Waldorf School parents, faculty, and board members on issues including the school’s overall growth and development and specific projects.

On the heels of two globally significant forest conservation projects, and related fundraising, the board of this sophisticated organization wanted to improve board engagement and be sure of where they were headed next. We facilitated two board meetings and helped them with strategic planning and organizational development.

North Country Associates is a leading provider of post acute Medicare skilled nursing, rehabilitation and long term care in New England. This private corporation operates 20 facilities and has about 1600 employees. They hired us to work at specific facilities to improve communications and effectiveness among department heads.

The Quality Review Council is established by state law to review homecare services provided by Elder Independence of Maine. The Council reviews quality reports and also works on short-term, high priority projects to improve home care. We were retained to facilitate all regular meetings of the Council.

Shalom House helps hundreds of people with serious mental illness each year by providing affordable housing where people can escape the stress of homelessness, hunger, and isolation. We were hired to deliver training on communications and conflict management styles.