By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

PARIS – Representatives of Community Concepts Inc. and Western Maine Community Action Inc. of Wilton are considering a merger that could provide more services in a tri-county region while also cutting costs.

The nonprofit social service agencies have formed a “merger planning team” including executive directors, members of the boards of directors and senior staff from each organization. A report is expected in January.

Together, the two agencies employ more than 500 people and have budgets of more than $40 million.

“The focus is on whether or not we can improve and expand services to families in our region,” Matthew Smith, executive director of Community Concepts, said Thursday.

Smith said both organizations primarily serve Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties.

Efficiency and cost savings are being considered as well. “In our business there are always budget concerns,” Smith said.

While federal and state governments continually threaten to cut social services funding, he said, an agency with a wide range of programs is more likely to remain eligible for government grants and more likely to survive.

Community Concepts itself is the result of a merger nearly 20 years ago, Smith said. He was with Oxford County Community Services in the late 1980s when it was consolidated with The Task Force on Human Needs to create Community Concepts. That consolidation helped bring together a strong management team while increasing services to people, Smith said.

Smith and Irv Faunce, director of program operations for Western Maine Community Action, said their organizations’ services overlap in only a few areas. Community Concepts has largely focused on housing repair and development, transportation and Head Start programs, Smith said. Western Maine Community Action provides more job training and services for women, infants and children.

“We are taking a very strong look at each other, and (at whether) these programs can merge,” Faunce said.

There is no intention for one organization to take over the other, he added. “We are proceeding carefully using the word merger’ even though one is larger than the other.”

Faunce said Western Maine Community Action has a $9 million budget, 80 people on staff and serves several thousand residents in the region.

Smith said Community Concepts has a budget of $32 million this year, a staff of about 425 employees and serves an estimated 24,000 people.

Mike Norton, director of public and media relations for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday he was not aware of other social service agencies’ merging in the state, but the funding environment is getting more difficult. “We often turn to our providers and say, What can you do to tighten up efficiency?'”

Norton added that two agencies’ merging to become stronger is likely good for people seeking services in the area.