Portland groups reimbursed $893K for assisting asylum seekers
Courtesy / Preble Street
Preble Street Resource Center was one of three social service organizations receiving a total of nearly $893,000 in federal reimbursement.
The city of Portland's Family Shelter, the Preble Street Resource Center and the Jewish Community Alliance have received reimbursements totaling $892,586 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for costs they incurred while caring for asylum seekers in the city.
Of the total, $864,079 was reimbursed to the Family Shelter, $20,394 to Preble Street and $8,113 to the Jewish Community Alliance, according to a news release.
"Portland is a welcoming city and our city staff work tirelessly to provide emergency shelter for those who need it,” City Manager Jon Jennings said. “This federal reimbursement will go a long way in relieving the impact on Portland taxpayers."
Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, and Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, all supported the allocations.
They're part of funds totaling $30 million for the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program, to be included in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill that passed Congress at the end of June with the support of Maine’s delegation. The funding is intended for communities across the country that have experienced a surge in asylum seekers.
The Portland Family Shelter received the second-largest award in the country, according to the release.
In July, Mills wrote a letter to FEMA, asking the agency to dedicate federal funding to Maine municipalities that have experienced an influx of asylum seekers and to local organizations assisting them. Her letter followed her use of contingency funds to support longer-term housing needs of those in Portland’s emergency shelter.
“The state of Maine, the city of Portland, surrounding municipalities, private businesses, charitable and faith-based organizations, residents, and many others have all stepped up to help meet the most basic needs of those newly-arrived in Maine,” Mills wrote at the time.
In June, the city of Portland, in response to an influx in asylum seekers from the southern U.S. border, activated an emergency operations center and additional emergency shelter at the Portland Expo on Park Avenue.
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