Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants (Maine Intercultural) is a for-profit consulting firm that offers training for schools and businesses that promotes critical race theory-aligned ideas. It advocates for business and school to set equity standards. ^{1 2}

Background

Founded in 2015, Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants is a far-left consulting firm based in Portland, Maine ³ that advocates for employers to prioritize diversity in hiring and set equity standards. ⁴

Maine Intercultural promotes identity politics and states that white people need to overcome their so-called “whiteness” biases. It is also a staunch supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and has drafted statements for companies advocating support for the movement. ⁵

Services

Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants offers single training sessions as well as a six-to-nine-month training program. It offers a four-hour course on cultural differences and a two-and-a-half-hour course on Islam. Both are designed to assist trainees in overcoming their alleged bias against other cultures and identity groups. ⁶

Maine Intercultural requires organizations interested in its services to take the Intercultural Development Inventory, ⁷ a test that assesses the extent to which individuals and organizations are able to overcome bias, based on identity politics. ⁸ Maine Intercultural states that a lack of equitable outcomes is a sign of racial and cultural bias. ⁹

People

Liz Greason is a co-founder of Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. She previously taught courses on cross-cultural communication at American University in Dubai and served on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine and Portland Adult Education. ¹⁰

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Deb Breiting is a co-founder of Maine Intercultural. She is an English as a Second Language teacher and previously taught at the Portland Adult Education for the New Mainers Resource Center and developed projects that supported integrating immigrants into Maine’s workforce. ¹¹

1. “Assessments.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/assessments-and-coaching.
2. “Consultation and Mediation.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/consulting.
3. Milliken, Maureen. “Maine Looks beyond the Numbers in Search of a Fair Employment Playing Field.” Mainebiz.  December 12, 2020. https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/maine-looks-beyond-the-numbers-in-search-of-a-fair-employment-playing-field.
4. ^[1] “Consultation and Mediation.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/consulting.
5. “Maine Intercultural Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants, June 10, 2020. https://www.maineintercultural.com/blog/2020/6/9/6welfvbjro1g356d3uxedndhkv7ohf.
6. “Training.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/what-we-do-1.
7. “Assessments.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/assessments-and-coaching.
8. “12 Reasons for Using the Idi.” Intercultural Development Inventory | IDI, LLC, March 29, 2021. https://idiinventory.com/generalinformation/12-reasons-for-using-the-idi/.
9. “Consultation and Mediation.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 13, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/consulting.
10. “Our Team.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/who-we-are.
11. “Our Team.” Maine Intercultural Communication Consultants. Accessed December 12, 2021. https://www.maineintercultural.com/who-we-are.