PORTLAND, Maine — The City of Portland saw an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers last summer. Processing intake for nearly 450 people took place at the emergency shelter held at the Portland Expo from June 9 to August 15. This was the first time the Expo had run as a 24/7 emergency family shelter organization.
More than 200 additional people were able to be placed in host homes and at the City's Family Shelter until housing could be secured.
The City received over $900,000 in donations this summer to assist asylum seekers arriving in Maine. More than 4,000 generous donors and many community partners also assisted with no expectation of being reimbursed.
"On behalf of the City Council, I'm pleased we are able to award these funds as reimbursements to the nonprofit entities who assisted us." The 11 community partner organizations include:
- Catholic Charities of Maine ($5,675)
- Greater Portland Health ($4,671)
- Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center ($4,900)
- Greater Portland Transit District-METRO ($6,075)
- LearningWorks ($480)
- Immigrant Legal Advocacy ($6,178)
- Maine Emergency Management Agency- MEMA ($11,946)
- Portland Public Schools ($15,108)
- The Emergency Action Network-TEAN ($11,765)
- Town of Brunswick ($70,000)
- Wayside Food Programs ($5,000)
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