TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. -- Tobyhanna Army Depot's School Age Center has received national accreditation from the Council on Accreditation (COA), recognizing the program for its high performance, quality and exceptional service to children, youth and their families.
In addition to earning accreditation, the center was honored for receiving zero out-of-compliance ratings in any of its core standards. Richard Klarberg, president and CEO of the COA, recognized the effort taken by depot personnel to achieve such success.
"The COA is proud to recognize Tobyhanna Army Depot's School Age Center as an outstanding provider," said Klarburg. "Please extend my thanks and appreciation to all of your staff who have worked so hard over the past several months to achieve accreditation."
Jennifer Williams, Tobyhanna's Child, Youth and School Services Program director, said the center and its staff work tirelessly to meet COA standards.
"Our staff members work extremely hard to implement and maintain the standards set forth by the COA," said Williams. "They are dedicated to providing quality care to our children and families and they do an excellent job."
To showcase standards evaluated by the COA, the center provides quality programming designed to teach and improve life skills, citizenship and leadership, arts, recreation and several other service areas. Tobyhanna's School Age Center also participates in various local and national events, including photography contests, food drives and fitness days.
The COA is a national, independent, not-for-profit human service accrediting organization. It accredits over 2,000 private and public organizations, and programs that serve more that 7 million individuals and families in the United States, Canada and overseas. Accreditation standards cover over 60 different service domains and hundreds of different types of programs.
The accreditation process involves a detailed review and analysis of an organization or program's administration functions and service delivery practices. To achieve COA accreditation, an organization or program first provides written evidence of compliance with the applicable standards. Then, a group of specially trained volunteer site reviewers confirms adherence to these standards during a series of on-site interviews with the organization's trustees, staff and clients. Based on their findings, COA's accreditation commission determines whether an organization or program has successfully met the criteria for accreditation. The accreditation process typically takes 9-16 months.
In Pennsylvania, 62 organizations and programs are accredited through the COA. Klarburg welcomed Tobyhanna's School Age Center to that group.
"The center should take enormous delight in continuing to be part of COA's community of excellence."
Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department's largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna's missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.
About 3,700 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.
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