GREATER PORTLAND IMMIGRANT WELCOME CENTER

Support services, business hub, and Women lead: The organization offers new Mainers support services in many formats. The vision of the Business Hub is as an accelerator for helping immigrant entrepreneurs achieve their business goals and as a critical and respected part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Greater Portland area. Our mission is to help immigrant-owned businesses understand, navigate, and thrive in the Maine business community. We do this by developing four key resource areas: access to capital, training, mentoring, and networking. The Business Hub works one-on-one with 10-15 unique businesses each month to support business plan development, evaluate financing options, identify opportunities for growth, develop financial projections, and more. In Q4, 2023 alone we helped eight businesses apply for grant funding, with six entities receiving that funding, a success rate of 75%. We spend 30+ hours per month working directly with clients on issues impacting their businesses. Women Lead's pilot program consisted of 38 classroom hours of hard work from 11 ambitious and determined women. The women came from Angola, Gabon, Sri Lanka, the DRC, Nigeria, and Uganda, bringing a great diversity of personality, age, professional and educational backgrounds, and career aspirations. Upon completion of the program, each participant has been matched with a volunteer mentor who has experience in the profession they wish to pursue in the US. The program's curriculum was enhanced through collaboration with community organizations that provided instruction on financial literacy, HR perspectives, boundary-setting, digital literacy, resume and cover letter writing, and more. The women also participated in mock interviews and a job fair to practice these valuable networking and job-seeking skills in a supportive environment. While many of the women are still awaiting their work permits, they are collaborating with their mentors to be best prepared for when their employment authorization arrives. This includes getting their foreign credentials evaluated, improving their English proficiency, and participating in relevant training and networking opportunities. In addition to mentorship, the former participants remain connected to their in-house case manager, where they are encouraged to share updates on their progress toward their goals.