BRUNSWICK — Town officials are working on a plan to meet the critical needs of more than a dozen asylum seekers who came to Brunswick in recent weeks, and for the dozens more who may be on the way.
A task force charged with helping the asylum seekers held its first meeting Wednesday to set priorities and organize available services.
Since June, hundreds of asylum seekers have entered Maine, primarily from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo fleeing violence and persecution. Portland officials set up an emergency shelter in the Portland Expo, which will close by Aug. 15. Officials there are trying to find housing for people as quickly as possible.
Brunswick Town Manager John Eldridge told task force members they must determine the expectations of the families, the resources available to the town, and “how to marry the resources to those expectations.”
The first and one of the most important steps is for the town to hire a cultural broker who can help facilitate the transition process for these families and direct them to services, members decided.
Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, said her organization could recommend a broker who would serve as a cultural liaison with asylum seekers.
The next step is to create a resource center to connect asylum seekers with services. Task force members are working to secure space at the Brunswick Landing Recreation Center, as most of the families will be housed at the Landing and can easily walk to the rec center.
Task force members must then organize those services and create a web of local and state organizations available to help. Some of the services in place in Portland might be able to extend to Brunswick, Chitam said.
One of the most important pieces of the task force is to “give the immigrant community a seat at the table,” said Sarah Singer, a school board member and task force member. It is important for the task force to “have strong guidance from the immigrant community,” she said, “not the other way around.”
Most of the families’ major needs are being met, including housing, food and bus passes, but they want to be able to go somewhere to help themselves, rather than have people come to them all the time, Singer said.
There are many groups in the community who provide support to families in need, Singer said, but who may not have worked with asylum seekers before. Portland Family Promise is hosting a training Friday to teach people how to effectively work with asylum seekers and how to volunteer. The training is from noon to 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick. This is the first training, but there will be others to come, Singer said.
The Portland Press Herald reported Tuesday that many asylum seekers are choosing not to come to communities like Brunswick because they are too far from Portland, where there are more services and larger communities of fellow migrants.
Portland Interim Social Services Director Aaron Geyer told the Press Herald that 379 people have checked into the Expo since June 9. On Monday night, 229 individuals were staying there, and 38 families, totaling 106 individuals, have been placed in housing in Portland, Westbrook, Brunswick, Buxton, Yarmouth and Bath. Of those, 22 arrived in Brunswick in the last few weeks (four have since left), nearly a month ahead of schedule.
Chris Rhoades, a housing developer with Brunswick Housing Venture in Brunswick Landing, offered rent-free assistance for at least three months to some of the families on two of their vacant properties. There are another 10 units on the landing that can be utilized for more families, Chris Robbins, community director of Brunswick Landing Venture said Wednesday evening. Other landlords and Brunswick residents have also offered and accepted migrant families needing a place to stay, some through host home programs which are still being coordinated.
Eldridge said recently that the town has been inundated with people who want to help, with more than 60 people emailing and calling the town offices to offer volunteer services. Other groups and organizations have also received many offers of assistance. Other local organizations like The Emergency Action Network, Midcoast New Mainers Support Group, Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program, Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority and state organizations like Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition have also stepped up to offer services.
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