PAE offers a Brown Bag Forum for Volunteers on the Refugee, Immigrant, and Asylee Experience.

On Friday, June 8th from 12 pm -1 pm at the Douglass St. location, Arian Giantris, Director of Refugee and Immigrant Services (RIS) at Catholic Charities of Maine, and Noel Young, Asylum Coordinator Attorney at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP), will talk to interested volunteers and teachers about navigating the immigrant, refugee, and asylee process.  Arian will speak about the refugee and immigrant experience, and Noel will cover the legal twists and turns of the asylee process.  There will be brief presentations by Noel and Arian followed by a question and answer session.

Contact Moey Burchenal, the Volunteer Coordinator, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling 874-8155 if you will be attending this forum so we can plan for seating.  Bring your lunch and we will provide cookies and fruit.  If you cannot attend this presentation, we do hope to provide others in the future.

Click here to read the latest edition of We Write, PAE's magazine written by Language Arts Students.

Congratulations to the Fall 2011 PAE Office Skills Graduates.  Joan K. (Office Assistant and Microsoft Office), Dawn P.(Accounting, Medical, Office, and Microsoft Office), Fabianne C. (Medical), Monica J. (Medical and Microsoft Office), Chiho D. (Accounting).  From everyone at PAE, we wish you the best.

PAE received 50 backpacks from LL Bean to be used by the students of the Street Academy. The Street Academy is co-located with the Preble Street Teen Center and last year worked with more than 200 youth who were homeless. Of this number, less than 25% listed a Portland school as last attended.

Last Friday October 28th, 14 students graduated from Portland Adult Education's Job Class Program, a pre-employment training designed to prepare refugee and immigrant job seekers for the workforce.

During 7 weeks of intensive class time, the 14 graduates received training in US workplace culture, on-the-job communication, interviewing and basic computer skills.  The students received a certificate listing their skills and competencies.

In addition to in-class instruction, the students will receive continued support as they begin applying to work in the Portland area.  The students have experience in manufacturing, warehouse, healthcare, education, and hospitality.  Their countries of origin include Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Portland Adult Ed student Eunra Ko has good reason to be proud of her 12-year-old daughter, Seoyeon Kim. Seoyeon performed as violin child prodigy Erica Morini in Portland Stage Company’s production of “The Morini Strad,” and she earned a feature in the Portland Press Herald for mastering challenging last-minute musical changes. Neither mother nor daughter missed a beat with their studies throughout arduous rehearsals and performances. Bravo, Eunra and Seoyeon! Click here for Press Herald article.