Clients: 2009

Using a unique approach to problem solving, AARP hired us to facilitate a meeting among stakeholders to discuss a proposed legislative bill (LD 1078) that would reorganize the delivery of state-supported long term care. Held at the State House in Augusta, the meeting included the Commissioner and other top officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, legislators, and representatives from several organizations with an interest in long term care.

The American Psychiatric Association Area One Council, representing psychiatrists in the six New England states as well as Canada’s Eastern provinces and Quebec, engaged us to facilitate two meetings at its spring conference in Boston. We also prepared reports of the meetings.

Avesta Housing is the largest non-profit housing agency in Maine. It promotes and provides housing opportunities primarily for Southern Maine people in need and helps them access other needed services. They hired us to deliver training in effective face-to-face communication for their entire staff.

Bank of America convened a community roundtable of Portland area leaders in the philanthropic and nonprofit communities to share information and identify potential collaborations between organizations. We facilitated the roundtable and prepared a report.

The Casco Bay Coalition for Youth Substance Abuse Prevention is a group of local individuals, schools, law enforcement agencies, organizations, and businesses who work together to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse in Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, North Yarmouth, Pownal and Yarmouth. We were hired to facilitate a meeting of the Steering Committee to develop a work plan for implementing new grant funds and to decide on the coalition’s new name: Casco Bay CAN (Create Awareness Now) Coalition.

This well-established, family-owned group of insurance companies based in Bridgton, Maine has hired us to help them develop a strategic plan. The process included one-on-one interviews with management staff and a strategic planning retreat.

Headquartered in Portland, Maine, CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) is the leading U.S. non-governmental international education organization. CIEE creates and administers programs that allow high school and university students and educators to study and teach abroad. For the third year in a row, CIEE management hired us to facilitate a multi-day retreat among regional directors from all over the country to work through many issues, make decisions, and engage in fun team-building exercises. Following the retreat, we prepared a report.

Part of St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, Maine, Community Clinical Services is a Federally Qualified Health Center with 19 different practice sites. We were hired to facilitate a strategic planning retreat of the board of directors.

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.

Eastern Maine Healthcare hired us to facilitate internal management discussions in order to improve collaboration and service delivery.

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.

We were hired by the Farmington Downtown Association to help assess parking supply and demand, consumer preferences for retail opportunities, and strategies for improving business downtown. We also facilitated a community-wide meeting and a meeting of downtown business owners to share findings and gather additional input. Downtown Farmington has been designated a member of the Main Street Network, a program of the Maine Downtown Center.

The Fryeburg Selectmen hired us to facilitate two public workshops to introduce and clarify proposals to increase citizen participation in Town Meetings and in voting on town issues. During the workshops, held on two consecutive evenings, the community was encouraged to ask the Selectmen questions and offer their comments on the proposals.

As they have in the past, the Gardiner City Council hired us to facilitate a workshop to take stock of recent accomplishments, update Council interaction guidelines, and establish Council goals for the coming year. Gardiner is a city of about 6,000 on the banks of the Kennebec River in Maine.

Greater Portland Landmarks promotes 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. For the second year in a row we were hired to facilitate their annual board retreat.

We were hired to provide four facilitators for the HRSA Community Strategic Partnership Conference in Portland, Maine in October. This was a gathering of practitioners from across New England to collaborate on ways to improve delivery of rural healthcare.

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) partnered with the Maine Primary Care Association and the Maine Center for Disease Control to hold a strategic partnership meeting focused on connecting specialists with rural health providers to address Hepatitis C. They hired us to facilitate a full day meeting of these providers to discuss how to improve connections with specialist consultants regarding the disease. In addition to facilitating the meeting, we prepared a complete report.

Healthy Androscoggin is dedicated to improving the health of all Androscoggin County citizens through collaborative planning, community action, education and prevention. We were hired to facilitate two staff retreats, which included team building and other activities.

We were engaged to facilitate a retreat for the board of directors of the Isleboro Community Center, which was on the verge of opening a new facility.

We were hired to provide several facilitators for a statewide conference designed to develop a plan to vaccinate Maine residents against the H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu.

For more than 25 years, the Maine Community Foundation has been a leader in philanthropy in Maine. Its grants cover the full range of nonprofit undertakings, with a special focus in the areas of education, the environment, arts and humanities, and social and community services. In light of the changing economy and changing leadership at the Foundation, the Board hired us to help revise the organization’s strategic plan.

As part of the state rule making process, the Maine Department of Agriculture hired us to facilitate a meeting among stakeholders to discuss the Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program. In addition to facilitating the meeting, we prepared a complete report.

Van Buren is a small community on the St. John River in Northern Maine with a downtown that has been in decline over the past 40 years. Now designated a Main Street Maine downtown, community leaders are taking steps to reverse the trend. We have been hired by the Maine Downtown Center to help with strategic planning, downtown revitalization training, and related activities.

We participated in resource teams assembled by the Maine Downtown Center to visit and advise two Maine Street Communities, Sanford and Rockland. Other team members included experts in historic preservation, economic development, and promotions. Our role on the team was to focus on organizational development issues. Each visit consisted of three days on-site and the preparation of a written report. In addition, Craig provided training to the Organizational Committee of Rockland Main Street.

The Maine Downtown Center’s mission is to foster downtown development that is dynamic and community-based, and results in economic development, business growth, job creation, housing revitalization, historic preservation, and cultural enhancement. For the second year in a row the Maine Downtown Center hired us to facilitate a strategic planning retreat of its Advisory Council. We are also preparing a summary report of the meeting.

The Environmental Funders Network, an alliance of Maine-based foundations with environmental interests, helps to identify and create ways to improve and sustain Maine’s natural environment. We were hired to facilitate another meeting in the group’s continuing exploration of how to collaborate around the theme of “Quality of Place.”

Inspired by diverse faith perspectives, Maine Interfaith Power and Light works to protect the natural world from climate change by engaging the faith communities and people of Maine in energy conservation and the use of clean, renewable energy. They hired us to facilitate the board’s annual strategic planning retreat. We also prepared a report outlining the new strategic direction and the board’s work on specific issues.

The organization, which is dedicated to providing professional education and services for the osteopathic profession to ensure the quality of osteopathic care to the people of Maine, hired us to facilitate a full-day retreat of the Board of Directors focusing on strategic planning. Following the retreat, we prepared a report.

For over 25 years, the Maine Primary Care Association has worked to strengthen and sustain Maine’s Primary Care Safety Net. We were hired to facilitate two meetings among representatives of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) to discuss how to more effectively communicate medical information. We also prepared reports of each of the meetings.

The Maine Transit Association is a coalition of public transit providers in Maine such as buses and ferries. They hired us to help them follow up on previous strategic planning that we did with the group.

The Maine Transit Association, a coalition of public transit providers in Maine, engaged us to help them develop a strategic plan for the organization. We facilitated the meeting held to launch the effort and prepared a complete report.

Initially administered by Medical Care Development, the Casco Bay Coalition for Youth Substance Abuse Prevention launched a program called 21 Reasons. They hired us to facilitate an important organizational meeting that, among other things, resulted in renaming the program Casco Bay Can.

This highly successful partnership of physicians with offices in Brunswick, Lewiston and Augusta hired us to help them better define roles and governance procedures.

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.

The senior management team of the Methodist Conference Home, a non-profit organization based in Rockland that provides housing, transportation and other services, hired us to help them establish shared goals and clear roles and responsibilities.

The Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, a not-for-profit United Way agency committed to reducing hunger in the greater Brunswick area, hired us to facilitate a full-day strategic planning retreat and prepare a complete report.

Despite the growing number of green building practitioners, the actual transformation of Maine’s built environment towards improved energy efficiency is not happening fast enough. This is the challenge that Mid-Coast Magnet, a non-profit based in Rockland/Camden, confronted at the statewide Built Energy Forum in Augusta. We were hired to facilitate the break-out sessions of the conference. We also prepared the conference report.

Opportunity Farm is a non-profit, social service organization in New Gloucester, Maine that provides safe, supportive, family-style homes for at-risk young people. On the eve of its 100th anniversary the leadership of Opportunity Farm convened a group of experts and stakeholders to give input on future strategic direction. We were hired to facilitate the discussion and prepare a report.

The Pine Tree Society provides Maine children and adults with disabilities the opportunities and the means to create better lives for themselves and their families. We were engaged to provide training for their staff in communications and in conflict prevention and resolution.

Providence Service Corporation of Maine, also known as Providence of Maine, is an organization specializing in nonresidential community-based services. We were hired to facilitate a strategic planning retreat with the management staff.

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.

The brand-new school board for RSU 24 hired us to facilitate a kick-off retreat. Given the recent consolidation of three school districts (Ellsworth; School Union 92, which includes Lamoine, Hancock, Mariaville, Eastbrook, and Waltham; and School Union 96, which includes Franklin, Gouldsboro, Sorrento, Steuben, Sullivan and Winter Harbor) into one, the board wanted to get off on the right foot. We discussed everything from how board members interact with each other to initial goals for the new district. After the meeting, we prepared a report.

We were hired to facilitate a board retreat to develop a new strategic plan for the Sacopee Valley Health Center, located in Porter, Maine, which has been delivering comprehensive health care services to the Sacopee Valley since 1976. In preparation for the retreat, we tabulated and analyzed the results of a community-wide survey conducted by the Health Center. We also prepared a report of the board retreat.

Based in Freeport, Maine, Taggart Construction supports, promotes, and design buildings for high performance and sustainability. They hired us to work with the company president and senior management to develop a new strategic plan.

The United Way hired us to facilitate two meetings of the leadership of Preble Street and Wayside Soup Kitchen, two social service agencies in Portland, to define roles and responsibilities.

This United Way, based in Bath, hired us to facilitate discussion among providers of mental health service in the Mid Coast region in order to identify gaps in service and to plan for improved service delivery in the future.

We were hired to lead a workshop on conflict prevention, management and resolution for 65 administrators of volunteers.

Volunteers of America Northern New England hosted a statewide conference to confront the problem of misuses of prescription drugs. Participants from the medical, pharmacology, law enforcement, substance abuse treatment & prevention, and mental health fields discussed how medicine moves from health to hazard, what can be done to intervene in the diversion process and what some communities across Maine are doing to tackle this growing concern. We were hired to facilitate the conference as well as follow-up meetings with the leaders to define next steps.

The Westbrook School Department hired us to help develop a strategic plan. Working with the school board and the newly-appointed superintendent over a six-month period, we managed a process that included substantial community input, such as focus group meetings and a community-wide survey.

The Town of Windham, in partnership with Hudson Realty Capital LLC, a developer, hired us to facilitate a series of meetings to gather public input on the future of Little Falls, a village within the Town of Windham. In this unique approach, the developer and the town sought public input before crafting detailed plans for development of a key piece of property in the heart of the village. We were hired to facilitate the public meetings and prepare resulting reports.