Programs
Cross Cultural Community Services (CCCS) provides the following programs in collaboration with many other businesses, nonprofits, community-based organizations, individuals, and communities.
Elder Advocacy
In 2023, CCCS launched the Achieving Healthcare Equity in Older Persons (AHEOP) initiative, in partnership with the Maine Council on Aging and Southern Maine Agency on Aging. Through focus groups and provider retreats, we have identified key priorities: improving access to information and resources, addressing isolation and invisibility, enhancing predictability in services, expanding behavioral health support, and promoting cultural understanding. Our Aging Advisory Committee, composed of diverse stakeholders, helps drive strategic solutions to combat ageism and isolation and promotes health equity.
Family Well-Being
Family well-being is foundational to CCCS. Since its inception in 2018, CCCS has maintained a dedicated Family Wellbeing Program to support children, families, and communities through holistic, relationship-centered services. Formerly, CCCS participated in the State of Maine’s StrengthenME program, collaborating with numerous providers to offer stress management and resilience resources for BIPOC community in response to COVID.
Black History Month Community Wellness Fair
CCCS organizes the annual Black History Month Community Wellness Fair. First established in 2020, to respond to COVID, i.e., its symptoms, the vaccine, how to reduce it, how other healthcare-related diseases were affected by COVID, and how we, as a community, could support each other during the pandemic. Since then, the fair has become so much more, providing an all-day training on the social determinants of health, including elder care, state and local health disparities, and how to address policies that contribute to health inequities.
Oral Health
The Oral Health program has been suspended due to loss of funding. This issue remains central to the needs of the BIPOC community and is deeply connected to the social determinants of health.
Community Led Needs Assessment
CCCS leads the Community-Led Needs Assessments (CLNAs), a partnership-driven process in which community members co-design and lead data collection about their own experiences, needs, and priorities. Through cross-cultural collaboration with immigrant and multi-generational Black community-based organizations, CLNAs ensure data collection is culturally responsive, accessible, and shaped by those most impacted. A core principle is community ownership of data, with participants guiding how information is gathered, interpreted, and used. CLNAs address critical gaps in state-level data by generating community-informed insights on social determinants of health to support more equitable policies, programs, and resource allocation.