Who We Are

The Maine MultiCultural Center welcomes and champions diversity as essential to the economic and social vitality of Maine.

Working with its community partners, the Maine MultiCultural Center promotes community enrichment and economic growth by attracting, retaining, and integrating immigrants to the greater Bangor community.

Programs

The delivery model for all of MMCC’s programs is Accompaniment. Steve Reifenberg, a faculty member at Notre Dame University, defines Accompaniment as:

“…a partnership with the other, walking together. No matter the duration of the relationship, accompaniment encourages and cares for all dimensions of another person, and in the process recognizes our shared dignity. Building on the centrality of relationships for a happy and healthy life, accompaniment is a valuable concept for engaging constructively with others in a complex world.”

This is a model that is widely used by resettlement organizations around the country.

MMCC programs include:

  • Volunteer Support Team Program – Each family that we work with is assigned a team of volunteers to assist them in navigating U.S. life and culture. The volunteers do this by helping our new neighbors meet basic needs, access essential services, find social supports, and experience a warm welcome to our shared community. Volunteers are recruited, vetted, trained, assigned, and supervised by the MMCC Program Manager, a full-time paid staff member.
  • Economic/Business Navigator Program – In addition to the Volunteer Support Teams, MMCC also employs 2 half-time Outreach Coordinators to assist immigrants in navigating more technical issues such as rental applications, applications for work authorization, and a variety of applications for assistance. The Outreach Coordinators also work with a volunteer specialist who focuses solely on assisting immigrants in finding employment. We also help connect immigrant entrepreneurs to technical assistance for new business start-ups.
  • Move-In Program– The Move-In program assists immigrants in locating and settling into safe, affordable, permanent housing. The MMCC Program Manager trains and oversees all of the Move-In Program Volunteers and manages all of our furniture and housewares, donations, purchases all items not obtained through donations, manages our warehouse, organizes & documents all move-ins, and facilitates/advocates for families in their dealings with landlords and property managers. In addition to setting up living units for immigrants, MMCC also provides rental guarantees to landlords for refugees who, due to having to flee their homeland, usually cannot provide credit or rental histories. For asylum seekers, MMCC can often assist with payment of security deposits.
  • Education Program – MMCC’s Education Committee engages in community outreach. We have provided workshops for area teachers on how to support foreign-born students in their classes so they can be successful, and to area businesses on how to create a safe and welcoming work environment. We sponsor a monthly, virtual forum open to the public that focuses on a broad range of issues related to immigration. The committee is also currently engaged in producing an immigrant handbook that will provide new Mainers with information on how to navigate in their new home. The Committee is also in the process of producing a workshop for general audiences that provides up-to date information about the immigrants in our community – a general overview of the resettled population – where they come from, what their cultural backgrounds are, what languages speak, what challenges they face both initial and ongoing, how MMCC works to assist immigrants in resettlement both initially and over the long term, and how volunteers can be involved in the process

MMCC can help new Mainers connect to local service providers. If you need information or a referral to a local service provider, call (207) 307-7154 or email info@mainemulticulturalcenter.org