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:
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I was born in Paris, and grew up in France until I moved to the United States in 2013. My father is French and my mother is American. I am currently enrolled and finishing my last year at Occidental College in Los Angeles, studying Diplomacy and World Affairs. |
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Patrick is from New York City and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Dickinson College. He is currently serving a term of service with the Resilience Corps, an AmeriCorps program through the Greater Portland Council of Governments, where he supports their economic development programming. He's excited to join the Immigrant Welcome Center team, where he'll manage the Immigrant Business Hub, expand the student body of the iEnglish Project, and conduct outreach to immigrant-owned businesses. |
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Noah has lived in Maine his whole life and is attending North Yarmouth Academy for his senior year. Over the summer, he will be working on website design, social media outreach, and designing the monthly newsletter for the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center. |
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The IWC Welcomes Dorothy Barker! |
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Dorothy Barker comes to us with a wealth of passion for English education. She is a former AmeriCorps literacy volunteer, an internationally-certified TEFL instructor, and currently teaches developmental English courses at Southern Maine Community College. She is a member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe and is a descendant of Russian-Polish immigrants. She lives in Saco with her Iraqi husband, Ziead, and their daughter, Souad.
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Jorge immigrated from Colombia, South America 58 years ago. He and his wife raised two children and have lived in Maine for 27 years. Currently, Jorge is the Director of Labor Outreach and Education and the State Monitor Advocate for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers at the Maine Department of Labor. |
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Cathy Lee is the founder and Managing Director of Lee International, an international consulting firm that provides advisory services to private and public-sector entities on climate change in Maine, other parts of the US and around the world. Lee is an attorney with 40 years of legal experience. She founded and actively supports the Justice for Women Lecture Series, a program of the University of Maine School of Law. |
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Quang Nguyen is a licensed Financial Advisor at Win Financial Strategies and an entrepreneur based in Portland Maine. He came to the U.S when he was 18 barely speaking any English, Quang managed to study and excel his career in financial planning and also open a few successful businesses in Maine. Quang enjoys playing soccer with friends in his free time and traveling with his family. |
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Amberlynn Esperanza is an AVP Relationship Manager in Portland for Bangor Savings Bank, a local community bank dedicated to helping local organizations energize and enhance the quality of life for their citizens. She has a passion for helping others, building relationships with the Greater Portland community, and empowering small businesses and local organizations. |
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IWC’s iEnglish Program continues to help non-English speaking New Mainers overcome the language barrier. Many immigrants despite being highly educated, talented and having skills, face language barrier as they try to join the workforce. Language acquisition opens numerous opportunities for immigrants. The Voxy EnGen platform that IWC’s iEnglish Project has access to is a mobile-based instruction, which is a self-paced learning platform. This award-winning, career-focused virtual English language platform provides customized language training which is essential for workforce integration, career-mobility, and community engagement. As part of its mission, IWC is seeking partnerships with Maine businesses and organizations that are interested to hire non-English speaking New Mainers, to facilitate the workforce integration.
Additionally, IWC offers scholarships to individuals interested in learning English. For more information and to apply for free classes, please contact Dorothy Barker at dorothy@welcomeimmigrant.org.
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Recently, Androscoggin Bank's president & CEO, Neil Kiely visited IWC's Business Hub to meet with a few immigrant business and community leaders. The luncheon meeting was planned to provide opportunities for the New Mainers to discuss their plans, network, and share business ideas. |
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The Walk: A Message From Away |
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The Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center was one of the cosponsors of the two-day events, The Walk, that included a free outdoor concert by Kinan Azmeh, a Syrian-American artist and his band, and a celebration of music and storytelling to raise public awareness about refugee children.
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"Please help our partners at the City of Portland's Office of Economic Opportunity, to gather feedback/the opinion of immigrants living and working in Portland through a brief survey, offered in a few languages, to understand individuals priorities. |
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Click below if you are interested in supporting our efforts to elevate New Mainers through language acquisition, economic integration and civic engagement. Thank you. |
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Find us on social media or visit our website: |
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