Warm welcome: A new nonprofit builds community relationships
as it provides stepping stones to immigrants
When a family of 12 from Syria arrived in Augusta in 2017, they moved into a two-bedroom walk-up apartment in the Sand Hill section of the city, a neighborhood that once served as home to French-Canadian millworkers. Glad to have a roof over their heads, the family settled in with help from the Capital Area New Mainers Project, or CANMP, a new organization with a simple mission: to welcome immigrants, mostly from the Middle East, to central Maine.
But two bedrooms for 12 people was nearly intolerable, said Chris Myers Asch, co-founder of CANMP, with nearly every inch of the floor covered with mattresses, little privacy, and no place to do homework. The situation inspired the creation of CANMP’s Better Housing Program: the organization identifies decent housing, works with landlords to offer below-rate rents, and serves as a co-signer on the lease. They now have five properties and hope to add more.
Four Syrian families and one Afghan family now live in CANMP houses. Stopping by to meet one of them in May during Ramadan, visitors are greeted warmly and offered coffee and sweet cake even though everyone in the household is fasting. Interpretation is managed by a son, Mohammad Aljendi, a senior at Cony High School. He describes the journey of his family from Damascus three years ago as they fled violence, stopping in Turkey before they finally found their way to Maine.
The family is thankful to CANMP for finding them a new home and community, which they describe as being closer-knit than their original resettlement community in Phoenix, Arizona. CANMP has been with them, says Aljendi, “in sadness and happiness.” In March, after the mass shooting of Muslims in two mosques in New Zealand, they held a peace and solidarity rally in Mill Park by the Kennebec River. A couple of hundred people came out in the bitter cold and gathered in the little pavilion. “That week was scary for all Muslims,” Asch says.
CANMP’s main mission is, in Asch’s words, to “create a thriving, integrated community,” which they do in three ways: connecting immigrants and longtime Americans, meeting immigrant needs, and educating the broader community. They provide volunteer Family Mentor Teams, host a Women’s Talk and Tea group, and help with after-school tutoring and kids’ activities. He underscores the importance of being nimble, which allows the organization to seize opportunities.
One recent example: inspired by CANMP’s work, a local real estate agent proposed starting a scholarship program to benefit immigrants. She had moved to Augusta as a refugee from Vietnam in the 1970s, attended Cony High School, and started her own business. Thanks to her generosity, CANMP will award its first two $1,000 scholarships this spring.
One of CANMP’s key roles is educating the broader community about immigrants. To that end, Asch makes the circuit, from the University of Maine at Augusta’s Senior College to Diversity Day at Wiscasset High School. CANMP has many partners, including the faith community (Asch’s wife, Erica, is the rabbi at Temple Beth El), city officials, and the YMCA. Asch trades ideas with similar nonprofits around the state. He is excited about a web platform, iEnglish, that the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center uses. This interactive program offers customized learning; if you want to work in health care, for example, you can take a health care English course.
Much of CANMP’s work involves building relationships and strengthening the abilities of individuals to be better allies in the community. They recently hired Zoe Sahloul, president and founder of the New England Arab American Organization in Portland, to come to Augusta once a week to work as community liaison and cultural broker. “If you’re talking about helping people through trauma and mental health issues or connecting them to people and institutions,” Asch says, Sahloul’s visits with families are “hugely important.”
Seated in the living room of his home in Augusta, Mohammad Aljendi, the Cony student, talks about the success he and fellow Syrian refugees have had on the school’s wrestling team – they were even featured in a newspaper article last year. He also worries about his next move: College? Work? His doubts and dreams are the same as many of his classmates in his new home.
Photo: CANMP volunteers join immigrants in the annual Old Hallowell Day parade, a major community event in mid-July that draws around 10,000 people. This year, CANMP is sponsoring an international children’s festival as part of the celebration, with support from Islamic Relief USA and students from the International Club at Cony High School. In 2018, CANMP received a MaineCF Community Building Grant to develop organizational capacity, raise visibility, and educate the community by training volunteers, offering community educational programs, and hosting cultural events. Photo Chris Myers Asch, courtesy CANMP
