The Somali Bantu Community Association stands with the families of victims, survivors, and the broader community as we continue to adjust, recover, and work to prevent further violence in our community in the continued response and recovery to the Lewiston shooting. It is our hope that by providing information about how we utilized Maine Community Foundation Lewiston Auburn Broad Recovery Funds, we can strengthen the trust and transparency in our community as a whole. We used the funds in the way that we promised when we applied, and continue to work to advance our mission to uplift the immigrant and refugee community in Maine.

The funds SBCA received were from the second fund established, distinct from the funds for Victims and Families, at the advice of professionals involved in mass violence response and recovery.

The Broad Recovery Fund distributed $1.9 million to support 29 local community organizations based in Lewiston, which stepped up under extraordinary circumstances to provide services, including: emergency mental health services and counseling to children following the shooting, food and supplies for victims, child care and after-school programs while local schools were closed during the community lockdown, and much more.

– Maine Community Foundation

Because we serve a population with prior exposure and experience living in violent settings, SBCA and its employees immediately pivoted from our regular work in several ways. We provided members of the immigrant and refugee community with accurate information in the short term, addressed fears and retraumatization in the mid-term, and reestablished a sense of safety and stability in the long term – additional work and services required that had not been in our budget or plan alongside our regular work. Our staff translated and delivered up-to-date information and worked diligently to dispel rumors, address residual fear, and connect community members to services to deal with anxiety, depression, and trauma associated with this event.

To this day, many people are still worried about being in public under the belief that this type of event could recur, and that future attacks could be racially motivated. The Lewiston/Auburn area is home to thousands of people who came to the US as survivors of violence and warfare, and had their sense of safety and healing wholly disrupted by this senseless and devastating mass casualty event.

SBCA’s Office & Community Center was and remains a safe location for immigrant and refugee community members to meet with staff and work through the destabilizing effects of the mass shooting and to seek help navigating systems and resources through our cultural brokering services. For people with varying English language skills and access to reliable information, the event created a sense of isolation and panic that still ripples today, reopening old wounds for an already vulnerable population.

Our work, like that of the other twenty-eight community organizations supporting efforts for wider recovery, remains challenging and relies on the mutual trust and aid of all groups to end violence in any form. We lend our deepest sympathy and compassion to the survivors, victims, and their families and will continue to work for a healthy and safe community.

Read the Maine Community Foundation FAQ about the fund.