Maine Immigrant Youth Conference ( September 18th 2021, 10 am to 4pm

theme of the Conference is  “A Sense of Belonging: Building Broken Bridges”

The first Immigrant youth conference is happening in Portland, Maine organized by the team at Choose Yourself, MIRC and youth immigrant leaders in the community. In the past 15 years, there has been a large influx of immigrant families into Maine, there are currently over 44,000 foreign-born residents in Maine. With this growth, we have seen an increase in challenges and needs affecting the immigrant youth who are every day participating in community building. With a simple mission to give A Voice to Maine’s Next Generation, the immigrant youth-driven space is intended to create a diverse space where youth can feel a sense of belonging and be involved in community building. This exciting event will for the first time bring together immigrant youth aged between 15 – 35 years old who will be discussing immigrant youth challenges and needs in their communities and the education and judicial systems as well as the presentation of current innovative youth programs taking place in the different communities.

Significant challenges immigrant youths currently facing and hence to be tackled in this forum are:

• Inadequacy of organizations and institutions with culture-sensitive programming for the youth
• Lack of community integration programs that center the immigrant youth in particular
• Not enough resources to understand and navigate institutionalized racism
• Lack of confidence due to language and cultural barriers
• Lack of professional/business or entrepreneurship mentorship for the youth
• Lack of diverse teachers in schools and youth programs
• Communication and cultural barriers between parents and their children have led to increased crime and imprisonment cases of immigrant children.
• Lack of understanding and the interpretation of diverse culture by youth providers
• The inability to afford the high cost of extracurricular programs in the state
• And many more

Sessions of  the Immigrant Youth Conference

The conference will have 5 sessions

Morning Sessions

1 Session 1: Mental health in the immigrant community: This session aims to deconstruct the mental health stigma within the immigrant community from the youth perspective. 

Register to attend on this link

2. Session 2: Navigating a sense of belonging as a young immigrant in a most dominated white culture: This session will unpack the cultural shocks, the identity crisis young immigrants face when they migrate to Maine

Register to attend on this link 

3. Session 3: Immigrant Youth at the frontline of Restorative Justice . This session will center the struggles of immigrant youth to navigate institutionalized racism at the heart of Judicial system

Sessions hosted by Maine Youth Justice 
Register to attend on this link

Afternoon Sessions

4. Session 4: The realities of being a young immigrant existing at diverse intersections ( LGBTQI ; living with disabilities, …):  this session is dedicated to the marginalized youth in our immigrant communities, How do we build a community inclusive to them. 

Panelists information coming soon

Register on this link 

5. Session 5: Finances, success, career goals, and aspirations for an established life in Maine

This session will focus on how should a young immigrant define success in Maine and how can one accomplish it. 

Panelists information coming soon: 

Register on this link 

SPEAKERS DURING THE DIFFERENT SESSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE