Project Description: The Asian American Community Center of Maine (Community Center)

To meet these needs, Maine’s AAPI community, in partnership with Khmer Maine and Watt Samaki, is launching a $10,00,000 capital campaign to plan and construct a first-of-its-kind Asian American Community Center that fills a gap for critically needed community infrastructure in Maine.

Maine’s AAPI community, in partnership with Khmer Maine and Watt Samaki, seeks to build the Asian American Community Center of Maine in Westbrook. The Community Center will meet critical needs for the AAPI community in Maine, including:

  • Citizenship and immigration support

  • Workforce development

  • Community navigators, translators, housing assistance, counseling, and other social services

  • Small-business incubation

  • English language classes

  • Office, classroom, programming, and event infrastructure

  • Community garden, kitchen, and food pantry

The Community Center would address the aforementioned obstacles to well-being and acclimatization by providing a central location from which AAPI-led, AAPI-serving organizations can serve their clients and community members. It also responds to an unprecedented opportunity offered by one of our EBCOs.

This hub will offer classrooms, modern technology, and opportunities to connect, collaborate, and build community. The Community Center will also foster safety and belonging for Mainers, promoting active living and recreation, reduced isolation, neighborhood identity, community pride, and social activities that offer cultural exchange, and information exchange. 

The Community Center will also provide Maine’s AAPI community with trail access, community gardens, and outdoor space that benefits physical and mental health. A community kitchen, food pantry, and small market space will encourage community self-sufficiency to address food insecurity and lack of access to culturally relevant food.  

The Community Center would not only benefit the Maine AAPI population, but it would also energize the rural district of Westbrook, stimulating economic development and creating a locus around which the larger Greater Portland region can expand. Both its construction and operation would boost economic activity and workforce development. Conversations with  Greater Portland Metro have been initiated to discuss opening this area to greater local access and also to legal services, healthcare, and social services.