'Forging Critical Connections' in Southern Maine

Sen. Mee Moua of Minnesota's state legislature wowed the 120 leaders gathered from Southern Maine at the United States Conference of Religions for Peace's 2003 symposium in September. Sharing her personal story and experiences with Hmong immigrants in Minnesota, she was the keynote in a two-day symposium entitled "Forging Critical Connections: Ethnic Coalitions and Economic Viability." This was the eleventh symposium in a Rockefeller Foundation funded series examining how religions are responding to issues stemming from the U.S.'s growing diversity.

Early in 2003, the mayor of Lewiston Maine wrote a letter to key leadership of new immigrant communities asking them not to bring additional relatives to the area, for fear of the strain on city's resources. It made national headlines, and there has been a long period of healing in the community ever since. Cities like Portland, Lewiston, and Auburn are major portals for new and secondary immigrants to the United States. The USCRP, working with a coalition of local organizations and local organizer Andy Grannell, put together a conference bringing leaders from various sectors: religious communities, business, social services, and ethnic groups. Group participants identified critical issues in the community, created a series of strategies to deal with those issues, and committed to long-term work to find solutions for Southern Maine.