On August 13, 2026, Ladder to the Moon Network, the parent organization behind the publication Amjambo Africa, hosted a vibrant event to mark its tenth anniversary. The gathering at Allagash Brewing brought together board members, organizational leadership, community partners, and local residents to reflect on the nonprofit’s remarkable decade of service to Maine’s immigrant communities.
The afternoon was marked by lively cultural performances, including an engaging dance routine by the Lewiston-based nonprofit cultural group Ikirezi, which saw event attendees participating alongside the dancers.
Beyond the celebration, the event provided a valuable opportunity for leadership and partners to network and reflect on the milestones that have defined the organization’s journey. During the program, Executive Director Leah Hargrove and founder Georges Budagu Makoko took the stage to recognize the partner organizations that have helped sustain their mission.
cPort Credit Union was one of the organization’s foundational supporters. Bridget Ruffing, community coordinator at cPort, detailed the history of their sponsorship, which began when Makoko initially presented the concept for Amjambo Africa to a local branch manager. That pitch led to a meeting with then-President and CEO Gene Ardito, establishing a top-tier corporate sponsorship that continues to this day.
Photo | Mark Mattos
“Through this partnership, we can help make financial literacy more accessible by sharing translated materials with new Mainers in our community,” Ruffing told Amjambo Africa. “These resources can support people as they navigate unfamiliar financial systems, make informed decisions, and build confidence in their financial futures.”
Coffee By Design also celebrated its longstanding collaboration with Amjambo Africa. The company’s owner and Chief Creative Director, Mary Allen Lindemann, compared their support for local media to their approach to direct coffee sourcing: paying fair prices and developing custom solutions for agricultural partners.
Lindemann noted that Amjambo Africa serves as an essential channel for local, national, and international news, raising the visibility of underrepresented perspectives across Maine.
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“Each issue and each message is an opportunity to invite people into a global network working toward greater fairness, equity, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity,” Lindemann remarked.
The importance of this global network is a sentiment deeply shared by the organization’s leadership. Board member Laura deDoes first connected with the network when co-founder of Amjambo Africa Kathreen Harrison wrote a story about her annual Ethiopian New Year’s party.
Intrigued by the existence of an African newspaper published and distributed right in Maine, deDoes knew she had to get involved. She has close personal connections to the African community, and she understands the necessity of bridging the gap between continents. deDoes emphasized the vital role the publication plays in the lives of New Mainers. “Now, more than ever, people living outside their home countries need to be able to access trusted, current news from home as well as news that affects them here in the states,” deDoes explained, noting that Ladder to the Moon Network continues to provide that critical service.
That critical service resonates deeply with longtime readers like Cécile Thornton, who has been following the publication since its inception. Thornton first discovered Amjambo Africa at the Lewiston Public Library. Already acquainted with many new Mainers through a French club at Hillview — which included members from Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, and Rwanda — she was immediately drawn to the paper. “I still have several issues from the first year,” Thornton noted. “I wish I had one of each!”
For Thornton, the publication serves as an invaluable educational tool. She enjoys reading about what is happening in Maine’s diverse immigrant communities and has even used the paper when working with English as a Second Language (ESL) students. “The beauty of Amjambo Africa is that it teaches us about our neighbors. I wish that more native Mainers read it as there is so much to learn,” Thornton said. “I think it’s valuable to have local news available to people who have a difficulty understanding English.”
As the organization steps into its next decade, Hargrove, who has served in her role for eleven months, outlined recent developments and an ambitious roadmap for the future.
joy to the Allagash Brewing venue Photo | Mark Mattos
Hargrove announced that Ladder to the Moon Network recently secured substantial grant funding from two major philanthropic organizations. The Mellon Foundation grant will fund a two-year photojournalism project dedicated to documenting the lives and contributions of Maine’s immigrant communities. Meanwhile, the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation grant will support a multiyear pilot program designed to create community-level civic engagement models tied directly to local media.
When evaluating the organization’s trajectory over the past decade, Hargrove cited community trust and shared purpose as the key factors sustaining the network’s mission since its founding by Makoko, Harrison, and the board of directors.
Moving forward, Hargrove plans to completely restructure how the organization produces and distributes local news. “For the majority of my life, news and information has been one-directional: it comes from the top to the bottom,” Hargrove said. “But with the advent of social media, misinformation campaigns, click-to-forward, and algorithmic engagement, information is flowing every which way, all at once. To help vulnerable New Mainers and low English speakers, I want our news to be bidirectional; that is, to be made simultaneously with communities, under shared discussion and dissemination.”
This innovative approach emphasizes working directly within local neighborhoods to co-create, discuss, and distribute news alongside community members. It ensures that information remains accessible and relevant to non-English speakers, as well as New Mainers and native Maine residents.
To support this modernized, community-integrated approach, deDoes also highlighted a strategic vision for the publication’s reach. “Moving forward, I would like to see Amjambo Africa broaden distribution geographically, but more importantly, strengthen our digital platforms in order to reach broader audiences, including those who may choose to get their news in ways other than printed form,” deDoes said.
Armed with strong community partnerships, new funding, and a clear vision for the future of collaborative media, Ladder to the Moon Network and Amjambo Africa appear well equipped to serve Maine for another decade and beyond.
Amjambo Africa’s Deputy Editor, Eloge Willy Kaneza, contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the early August 2026 print edition of Amjambo Africa.
