The Latest News From IWC

Greetings!

Winter, with its short days and snowy nights is upon us. The darkness of its long nights can remind us of the cruelty of our world in its indifference to the plight of treatment of the displaced and uprooted people forced to leave their homelands and arriving in Maine. All the reasons why we are called to show compassion and be kind during the season of celebration and giving. Thus, we’re reminded of the Japanese proverb, "One kind word can warm three winter months."

And the giving and kindness is what we at IWC have been witnesses during the past month: Mainers giving generously to make it possible for us to support and assist those arriving and calling Maine home.

We have offered to teach English at no cost to the non-English speaking Afghan refugees and the asylum seekers staying in shelters and hotels while applying for asylum. We have been supporting immigrant-owned businesses to survive the pandemic, thrive, and expand. We are humble enough to understand it is your support that makes it possible for our efforts to continue. Thank you.

Read More

Greetings!

As the season changes, so does our work at the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center. After a hectic summer, we are preparing for a busy fall, filled with promises of serving our new neighbors arriving in Maine in search of safety, dignity, and better economic opportunities.

Early October saw the start of a new group of MaineHealth employees learning English and the inaugural cohort of 25 Fedcap learners, as part of the IWC’s iEnglish Project; the ongoing acceptance of zero-interest loan applications made by immigrant business owners; partnering for the first time with the Small Business Administration, SCORE, and Infinity Federal Credit Union to help immigrants start new businesses as part of our Business Hub; and we stand ready to offer free online English language instructions to the expected Afghan refugees.

The tasks may be enormous but so is our commitment to elevating Maine’s thriving immigrant communities. We know well that we can never serve the immigrant community without the support of our allies, friends, and volunteers. We value your ongoing support and thank you for being a partner in this important and timely work.

Read More

Greetings!

It has been a busy summertime at IWC. As you’d see below, we have been hard at work to support the local immigrant business owners, raise awareness about world’s displaced people, in particular refugee children, fleeing violence only to get stuck behind unfriendly borders, bring in new Board members, create a team of reliable interns, hire new staff, and be creative in funding our programs, and so on. As a young nonprofit, we know we must work hard to ensure we deserve the community’s trust, and the generosity of our allies and supporter. What follows is our attempt to tell our story:

Read More

We greet the arrival of 2021, with a sense of gratitude, and relief that the worst might be behind us. We mourn the loss of so many fellow Mainers, whose lives were cut short by Covid-19. We reflect on the contribution of the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) which included sharing CDC-approved information, providing necessary PPE to immigrant owned businesses, and distributing multilingual CDC guidelines posters in the community. We strived to ensure that New Mainers had access to accurate information in order to stay safe and healthy.

Read More

Program updates from the past three months.

Read More

Interim Executive Director announcement, our 3rd year anniversary, office reopening plans, and more.

Read More

Writing this, it is hard to believe that 2019 is coming to a close. This year the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) has seen remarkable growth across all our programs, completing pilot programs in the iEnglish Project and Immigrant Business Hub. We have formed new partnerships across the state and the country to strengthen our work and learn from others in the field of immigrant integration…

Read More

As summer comes to a close, we are happy to report what we have been doing to advance our mission through our various programs. The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) is moving forward with its strategy to collaboratively scale its digital language program, as well as its civic engagement plans for 2019-2020….

Read More

By now you have most likely heard about the recent influx of asylum seekers who have made their way to Portland, Maine. It has been encouraging to see Portland, surrounding cities and the community come together to support these new- comers, both through donations and a desire to volunteer time and services. Times like these remind us of why so many people choose to make Maine their home, and how the #PowerOfWe can make a difference!

Read More

We are excited to share with you how the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) is achieving its mission through the implementation of its programs in this first quarter of 2019.

Read More