A welcoming space for women to practice English (beginner to intermediate levels) while discussing topics like business, personal finance, and job readiness. Conversations will cover practical skills such as banking, budgeting, credit scores, job applications, and more. Topics can be tailored based on interest.

More Info: Call 207-220-7626

A welcoming space for women to practice English (beginner to intermediate levels) while discussing topics like business, personal finance, and job readiness. Conversations will cover practical skills such as banking, budgeting, credit scores, job applications, and more. Topics can be tailored based on interest.

More Info: Call 207-220-7626

Event Description: Learn more about saving for higher education or starting a business at our information session on March 19th. This is a virtual-only event. There is no need to register.

The Individual Development Accounts (IDA) matched savings program gives immigrants, refugees, and asylums seekers the chance to receive one dollar for every dollar they save towards a productive asset up to $5,000. This program helps newcomers at or below 100% of area median income pursue education, small business start-up, or business expansion with new technology.

Event Location: N/A, Portland, ME 04101, United States

Date: March 19, 2025

Time: 10 am

Photos:

Event Website: http://prosperityme.org/event/ida-info-session-4/

By popular demand, our Business Hub is hosting an Industry Spotlight workshop on personal and home care agencies. If you’re an immigrant entrepreneur interested in starting a home care or personal care agency in Maine, this session is for you.

Join us for a conversation with Magda Darling, a SCORE Mentor and experienced entrepreneur, who will share insights on the licensing and certification process, how MaineCare Waiver programs work with agencies, and the challenges of owning an agency.

This workshop is part of The Business Basics Bootcamp series, designed to help immigrant entrepreneurs navigate business ownership in Maine.

Register here: https://bit.ly/43AlXwX

This event is free, but we ask that you register so we know how many people plan to join us.

From the organizers:

✨ Hello Ladies, Join us for our upcoming "Things She Carries" women's wellness session. ✨

This month, we’re celebrating Women’s History Month by reflecting on the strength and resilience of remarkable women—while also learning how to let go of unnecessary baggage in our own lives. Through discussion and hands-on wellness activities, we’ll explore emotional decluttering and embracing new opportunities with a lighter mindset.

Thursday, March 13th @ 5:30 PM
📍 1311 Washington Ave, Portland, ME

Let’s unpack and grow together! Register now!💕

https://bit.ly/3QJwIWd

A welcoming space for women to practice English (beginner to intermediate levels) while discussing topics like business, personal finance, and job readiness. Conversations will cover practical skills such as banking, budgeting, credit scores, job applications, and more. Topics can be tailored based on interest.

More Info: Call 207-220-7626

Do you have an idea for a new business but don’t know how to get started? Are you looking for financing for an existing business? Do you want to grow your business? In all three of these situations, a business plan is useful and, sometimes, required. In general, it is a tool for you to better understand your business and plan for the future.

For many people, writing a business plan feels overwhelming. This workshop will help you better understand:

• Why a business plan is important

• How it can help you plan and understand your business

• What the basic parts of a business plan are

• How to get started writing your business plan

• Where to find help creating your business plan

If you are an immigrant entrepreneur and want to move your business forward, join us!

Learn more & register here:

https://bit.ly/3XtBJGe

From the organizers:

Frederick Ndabaramiye is our featured artist this month at the Diamond Street coffeehouse. Perhaps you've already seen his paintings in our gallery. You probably don't know though that Frederick is a Rwandan genocide survivor. He will be speaking this Friday, March 7, at 7PM in the roastery. He will be sharing from his book "Frederick: A Story of Boundless Hope" and will have signed copies available too. He will also be discussing his artwork, and life as a Rwandan genocide survivor. We're excited to reintroduce our Voices By Design series highlighting artists, writers, musicians and coffee farmers, with Frederick as our first speaker this year. We will be open until 8 pm (including in the café) and hope you will join us for this wonderful talk.

Coffee By Design

1 Diamond St, Portland, ME 04101

Learn more here:

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1186102713522072&set=a.382549277210757

Event Description: Join the information session to learn about ProsperityME’s programs that can help immigrants and asylum seekers pay for higher education or to start a business. This is a virtual-only event. There’s no need to register.

Our PROSPER Scholarship is a two-year academic program assists asylum seekers in earning their associate degree and covers tuition and books at any accredited community college or university in Maine. Students are paired with mentors to help make the most of their college experience. Applications are open, and are due on March 31st.

The Individual Development Accounts (IDA) matched savings program gives immigrants, refugees, and asylums seekers the chance to receive one dollar for every dollar they save towards a productive asset up to $5,000. This program helps newcomers at or below 100% of area median income pursue education, small business start-up, or business expansion with new technology.

Event Location: N/A, Portland, ME 04101, United States

Date: March 07, 2025

Time: 10 am

Photos:

Event Website: http://prosperityme.org/event/scholarship-program-info-session-7/

Featuring acclaimed jazz vocalist Vuyo Sotashe and Grammy-nominated pianist Chris Patishall, Songbook celebrates the rich musical heritage of Sotashe’s home country, South Africa. The program includes traditional folk songs in Zulu, Sepedi, and Xhosa, a string quartet by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, choral works by Michael Moreane and Bheki Mseleku, and originals by Vuyo Sotashe, all presented in fresh arrangements for voice, piano, and strings by Chris Patishall. Songbook explores connections between American jazz, South African traditional music, and European classical music, moving fluidly between traditions in a spirit of exploration and joy. 

Portland House of Music

25 Temple Street Portland, ME, 04101

Learn more & purchase tickets here:

https://bit.ly/3DtUO49

A welcoming space for women to practice English (beginner to intermediate levels) while discussing topics like business, personal finance, and job readiness. Conversations will cover practical skills such as banking, budgeting, credit scores, job applications, and more. Topics can be tailored based on interest.

More Info: Call 207-220-7626

Featuring acclaimed jazz vocalist Vuyo Sotashe and Grammy-nominated pianist Chris Patishall, Songbook celebrates the rich musical heritage of Sotashe’s home country, South Africa. The program includes traditional folk songs in Zulu, Sepedi, and Xhosa, a string quartet by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, choral works by Michael Moreane and Bheki Mseleku, and originals by Vuyo Sotashe, all presented in fresh arrangements for voice, piano, and strings by Chris Patishall. Songbook explores connections between American jazz, South African traditional music, and European classical music, moving fluidly between traditions in a spirit of exploration and joy.

The Gordon Center, Colby College 4000 Mayflower Hill Drive Waterville, ME, 04901

Learn more & get your tickets here:

https://bit.ly/4i3i5cq

Our 2025 theme is Racism: Public Health Issue: Barriers to Access. This two-day event starts on February 26th. We’ll gather at the University of Southern Maine, Glickman Library Portland campus to learn about how racism, which the CDC declared “...a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans…” (2021) prevents us from achieving physical and mental wellness via mainstream healthcare models.

Community members, public health experts, and social services providers will share firsthand experiences of barriers to accessing care from individuals belonging to Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ communities. Participants can view a selection from the Glickman Special Collections highlighting the history, strength, and power of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ activists and organizers. We will conclude with a community networking gathering on February 26 to celebrate our 5th year together --getting to know each other better.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/racism-a-public-health-issue-barriers-to-access-tickets-1145047360479?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

The Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine (CAFAM) presents their annual Lunar New Year Celebration.

This year's event will feature music and dance performances, crafts, lectures, Tai Chi, tea tasting, Chinese food, and vendors.

More details to come!

Performance seating: first come, first served

Free admission for children under age 5

Plenty of free parking

If the live event is canceled, all tickets purchased will automatically be fully refunded.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lunar-new-year-celebration-tickets-1113185139719?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Indigo Arts Alliance is proud to partner with Nyamuon “Moon” Nguany Machar (ALUM 20’) and Charles C. Stuart of Stuart Productions to bring I COME FROM AWAY - An Immigrant in Maine (Part Two) to Portland, Maine. Please join us for this film’s premier screening on Friday, February 7th at 6pm EST at Indigo Arts Alliance. Located at 60 Cove St. Portland, ME 04101.

As a refugee, immigration activist and documentary filmmaker, Moon focuses her lens on the extraordinary effort made by the city of Sanford, Maine to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers who showed up unexpectedly one day in the spring of 2023. Moon followed their journey to the city of Sanford, Maine (pop. ~22,000). Known as "the city which never dies" because of its resilience after the decline of the once-thriving textile industry, the city of Sanford responded in force at every level. City officials, community action workers, police and volunteers jumped into the fray. Where to put the new arrivals? How to feed them? With no help from the federal or state governments, Sanford was on its own. Follow Moon and meet the people on the front line of the national issue of immigration.

Following the screening, there will be a discussion between Moon and Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. Join the conversation about how New Mainers can contribute to the future of Maine while under threat of mass deportation, and the power of collective action and collaboration.

The film will also be available for viewing on Maine Public Film Series Thursday, February 27 at 9pm. A second screening is scheduled on Friday, February 21 at 6 pm at the Nasson Little Theater, located at 457 Main St, Springvale, ME 04083. Following this screening, Moon will be in conversation with Steven Buck Sanford City Manager, Jennifer Davie, Housing Navigator with York County Community Action and Ndombaxe Pedro, Community Health Worker with YCCAC.

Mapping Memory and History: A Dialogue between Billy Gérard Frank's Palimpsest and Indigo: Entanglements

Please join the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine for our annual DiMatteo Lecture--an evening lecture, film screening, and discussion with acclaimed artist and filmmaker Billy Gérard Frank. Frank will discuss his Indigo: Entanglements series of paintings and screen his 2022 Venice Biennale short film, Palimpsest: Tales Spun from the Sea and Memory (the film's New England premiere).

Thursday, February 6th, 2025, 5:30pm-7:30pm

Reception: 5:30-6pm

Lecture, Film Screening, and Q and A: 6pm-7:30pm

Hannaford Hall (Abromson Center), University of Southern Maine (Portland)

Support for this event is generously co-sponsored by Indigo Art Alliance and Moss Galleries.

Frank's Indigo: Entanglements series is a new and ongoing body of works (multimedia painting incorporating silkscreen, vintage African fabric, newsprint, acrylic, etc.) interrogating the unmitigated drama and tragedy of New World Slavery and Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Osher Map Library has recently acquired Indigo: Entanglements, No. 6, for their permanent collection, a complex multimedia painting that engages with Maine's role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, via maps, documents, and other archival imagery.

Palimpsest: Tales Spun From Sea And Memories narrates overlaying tales; fragments of a life and man: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano, born in the Gold Coast (Ghana) in the Fante village of Agimaque. Cugoano was one the most radical and central African British opponents to have actively engaged in the fight against slavery in the eighteenth century, England. His book Thoughts and Sentiments On The Evil Of Slavery, published in England after he gained his freedom, is one of the most direct criticisms of slavery by a writer of African descent. You can watch the trailer here.

Billy Gérard Frank, born in Grenada, West Indies, is a multimedia artist and filmmaker. His research-driven practices mine personal issues related to race, exile, memory, global politics, and post-colonial and queer decoloniality. Frank challenges conventional narratives and creates counter-histories through his work, which has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum (2020) and the Butler Institute of American Art. His art is also part of several private collections and institutions, such as the National Academy Museum of Fine Arts and Design, Farnsworth Art Museum, Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, among others. Frank represented Grenada at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia (2022) and was also part of the collective representing the island at the 58th La Biennale di Venezia (2019), and (2024) Smithsonian Design Triennial. He is a 2024 Creative Capital Awardee and has received numerous grants, including the Ford Foundation Grant for his 2022 La Biennale project.

The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education is delighted to welcome Billy Gérard Frank as our inaugural Peggy L. Osher Visiting Artist Fellow in the spring of 2025.

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mapping-memory-and-history-a-dialogue-between-billy-gerard-franks-artwork-tickets-1141003254449?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

We invite you to be part of our exciting in-person event that aims to bring together a diverse audience. Come learn, connect, and be part of the conversation on at Thompson's Point in Portland, Maine.

The Maine Immigration Forum (MiF), an event spearheaded by the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, serves as a beacon of celebration and recognition for immigrant communities across the state.

As the event enters its second year under the theme "Embracing our Diverse Roots, Cultivating our Future in Maine," its mission remains steadfast: to elevate, motivate, and celebrate immigrant communities throughout our state.

This year’s theme encapsulates reflection and anticipation, weaving together a narrative of rootedness and optimism that resonates with Maine's rural landscape. Central to this narrative is an acknowledgment of all the people who inhabit the state we call Maine from the indigenous peoples who have stewarded this land for generations to the diverse immigrant communities. Their voices are woven throughout the fabric of the event.

As participants come together to celebrate their collective heritage, the Maine Immigration Forum stands as a testament to the power of collaboration, inclusivity, and diversity in building a stronger Maine.

The MiF is an annual gathering, open to all members of the community, including residents, local organizations, businesses, youth groups, seniors, and marginalized populations.

For more information, please reach out to:

projects@maineimmigrantrights.org

Event Draft Program:

4:00 pm - Event doors open

5:00 pm - Networking & Community Tabling

5:30 pm - Dinner is served

6:30 pm - Main Reception begins

8:30 pm - Event concludes

Register Here: https://atlanticblackbox.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/atlanticblackbox/eventRegistration.jsp?event=63&

Register here: https://mailchi.mp/atlanticblackbox/kerimalewis-14171016?e=698516072a