Peer Workforce Navigator Partners
Food AND Medicine
Background: Food AND Medicine (FAM) was formed in response to an avalanche of layoffs in 2001. Union members and allies teamed up to support and stand in solidarity with laid off workers and the communities that were reeling from the effects of plant closures.
Values: FAM’s name stems from the belief that no one should be forced to choose between food, medicine and other basic necessities. We believe all people have a right to dignity, access to healthy food, good paying jobs, healthcare, and a strong safety net to catch for hard times.
Goals: We organize, educate and empower people directly affected by the issues we seek to address – issues causing and resulting from poverty.
Gateway Community Services Maine
Gateway Community Services Maine (GCSM) is a non-profit organization created to support the wellbeing of the community in the Greater Portland and Lewiston areas of Maine. Especially the wellbeing of immigrants and refugees.
GCSM applies a community-based approach to wellness, providing programs in the following three areas: Leadership: building places for power, expression and positive change, Community: coming together to learn, celebrate and support and Wellness: creating pathways for health, freedom, and wholeness. GCSM offers support while creating opportunities for connection between immigrant, refugee, and asylee community members and their neighbors.
Maine Equal Justice
Maine Equal Justice (MEJ) is a nonprofit civil legal aid and economic justice organization working to increase economic security, opportunity, and equity in Maine. MEJ advocates for fair public policies in the legislature and with governmental agencies; provides direct legal services and representation through impact litigation; and partners with diverse communities and agencies through outreach, organizing, and education.
MEJ focuses its work on many of the issues that affect people’s daily lives – access to health care, housing, transportation, and childcare; food and income security; and higher education and training. MEJ works to ensure access to Maine’s anti-poverty programs, including MaineCare, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Unemployment Insurance, and General Assistance. MEJ works in partnership with people living in poverty to organize and advocate together for just laws and policies. MEJ also provides education and training throughout the state on laws and policies that directly impact people living on limited means.
Maine AFL-CIO
The Maine AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor organization, is a federation of 180 locals unions representing 40,000 working Mainers. We seek to improve the lives of all working people – in the workplace and in the community – through organizing, public policy, workforce development and collective action.
Prosperity Maine
ProsperityME is a non-profit that empowers, through education and counseling, members of the immigrant communities to invest in themselves to build financial stability, careers, businesses, and wealth. ProsperityME offers financial literacy courses, one-on-one financial counseling and coaching, housing assistance, scholarships, and small business support. Services are open to all refugees, immigrants, asylees, and low-income individuals in Greater Portland and Lewiston/Auburn, Maine.
