WELCOME TO COA

Dear Colleague:

Welcome to COA's family of excellence - a family comprised of more than 1800 public and private organisations throughout North America serving some seven million children, families, and adults each year.

For 30 years, COA's mission has been to partner with organisations such as yours to improve the lives of the people you serve. To achieve this mission in today's difficult environment, COA has developed Contextual Accreditation^TM.

Simply put, Contextual Accreditation is a strategy to strengthen, measure, and validate organisational effectiveness. To make this strategy effective, Contextual Accreditation focuses on each organisation's unique mission, resources and culture, as well as the unique needs and aspirations of the people it serves.

This approach results in a process customised to reflect the capacity of each organisation in terms of realistic timetables, areas for technical assistance and the most appropriate peer review team.

Achieving COA accreditation will not be easy. While the process and the new 8th Edition Standards have been streamlined to insure they are relevant and achievable by organisations of every size and mission, they continue COA's unwavering commitment to excellence, client rights and essential life and safety standards.

I think you will find that Contextual Accreditation transforms your organisation by challenging your board, staff, consumers, and senior leadership to continuously identify, implement and measure your strengths and opportunities. These Guidelines to Accreditation are intended to help you accomplish this goal.

That's why we say that Contextual Accreditation is not an end - it is a means to an end.

Richard Klarberg
President & CEO