O’Neill Center Receives National Accreditation in 2004

O’Neill Center Receives National Accreditation in 2004

By Terry Zdrale

A milestone year—that is how one might describe 2004 at the O’Neill Senior Center. In addition to the many people assisted and activities offered, the O'Neill Senior Center received official notice that it has been accredited by the National Institute of Senior Centers. Of the more than 15,000 senior centers nationwide, the O'Neill Senior Center is the 110th Center to receive this recognition.

This national accreditation is the end result of a rigorous process including an agency self-assessment and on-site inspection by trained peer-reviewers from the National Institute of Senior Centers, a division of the National Council on Aging. The accreditation process is a quality assurance program that examines nine different standards and requires community involvement in the self assessment process. The standards reviewed include: community, administration, records and reports, fiscal management, governance, evaluation, facility, purpose and planning. Board member, Hugh Hopper, chaired the entire process and spent countless hours organizing and leading the committees.

O’Neill board members, Rose Marie Thomas, Alfred Pirone, Etta Ritchie, Jennifer Houtman, and Beth Burlingame were also deeply involved in this process, serving as chairs of standard committees. Community leaders with expertise in these areas were selected to sit on each committee. Over a period of several months, the committees examined policies, budgets, files, operations, procedures and the facility. They made recommendations that went to the board and many have been incorporated into the center’s planning document.

Being nationally accredited is quite an accomplishment and makes an important statement to our staff, board, participants, community and our funders that we offer quality programs and provide them in a comfortable setting and with accountability.