The Peer Workforce Navigator Project is a coalition focused on access to good jobs and economic stability. Members are Prosperity Maine, Maine Equal Justice, the AFL-CIO, Gateway Community Services, Food and Medicine, and Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness.

By Catherine Buxton, Peer Workforce Navigator Project

Are you new to Maine? Do you need help finding job training or a good job? Are you trying to get unemployment benefits or do you need help paying for food or other essentials? Peer Workforce Navigators have resources to help.

Getting a good job and finding financial stability can be a challenge, especially if you are new to Maine, but also if you are just struggling to make ends meet. We all need a little help finding our way sometimes!

Peer Workforce Navigators have been in your shoes; they may speak your language; they have had their own experience trying to navigate systems and opportunities in your community. They know that there are many organizations, resources, and programs to keep track of, and that it can help to have someone to walk alongside you as you decide what you want and need. 

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Are you working at a temporary agency, or have you been laid off?  A navigator can help you find unemployment benefits and a more stable career. 

Are you having trouble with your SNAP benefits? Do you have questions about what other programs you might qualify for to help meet your needs and grow in your career? A navigator can help!

Each of the six member organizations employs a navigator who can help you find resources in your community that can assist with your employment journey – such as applying for public benefits and unemployment assistance, resume help, career connections, and training resources. We work together with the Maine Department of Labor, local employers, labor unions, and other community agencies to make these programs more accessible to people with different needs, abilities, languages, and life experiences. 

Navigators can meet in person, over the phone, or online. Our navigators speak Arabic, English, French, Lingala, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, and Swahili. We are more than happy to use an interpreter as needed.

If you want to meet with a navigator one-on-one, please schedule an appointment. We recommend you fill out this form on our website: www.workforcenavigator.org/contact and a navigator will be in touch. You can fill out this form yourself, or have a teacher, friend, case manager, or other person help you. You can also email us at [email protected]. 

Join us at a workforce resource fair or clinic

We have three walk-in clinics for workers across the state. At the clinics, navigators meet with as many people as we can. We support people with unemployment and other public benefits, resumes, job applications, referrals to legal assistance, and we answer questions about jobs, training, and other employment issues. 

All clinics are walk-in only, first-come-first-served. If you would prefer to not wait in line, we recommend making an appointment on our website instead. 

Portland: Fridays, 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Prosperity Maine, 175 Lancaster St., 2nd Floor

Lewiston: First and third Wednesdays, 10 a.m. – 12 noon, Gateway Community Services, 124 Canal St.

Bangor: First Wednesdays, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., The Together Place, 2 Second St.