Resume Writing
Resume help – call Amelia Lyons at 207-615-4876 (volunteer career counselor).
Work Authorization
*** It is illegal to work in the US without work authorization, and doing so can be devastating to an asylum case. ***
Applying for your first work authorization
Process
Submit your asylum application (guidance here)
Wait five months (150 days)
Submit work permit application. Complete one application for each person applying.
Work permit should arrive in 4-6 weeks, social security cards will follow
Most asylum seekers choose to apply for work permits for their children, in order to get them social security cards.
As you approach 150 days, things to do to prepare
Make sure each applicant has a government-issued photo ID (can be expired, can be from foreign government, a photo or copy of the ID is usable if you don’t have the original). If you don’t have one, contact WTS for advice.
Get two passport photos for each applicant
Contact Hope Acts to make an appointment if you would like assistance with the work permit application, which can be found here.
The first work permit application is free
Renewing a work authorization
Work permits are good for two years. Adults should begin planning to renew their work permit 6 months before it expires. The cost for renewal is $410 for each applicant.
There is a Foreign Credentialing Grant Program can be applied to for the application fee or cost of document translation.
Children do not need to renew their work permits until they are old enough to work.
The application is here. You can get an appointment at Hope Acts to assist with the application or review an already-completed application.
Employment-Related Legal
Southern Maine Workers’ Center (SMWC) Hotline
207-358-9211
The hotline often forwards legal questions to appropriate law firms that represent employees, depending on the issues raised. Also, the SMWC is working to establish a once a week, free employment law clinic at their offices on Washington Ave. in Portland. Once it is underway, the plan is for the clinic to be staffed by 2 attorneys, rotating between a number of volunteers, including lawyers from my firm. They expect that this will start in March 2018, but the planning is ongoing and the date is not set.
SMWC’s Know Your Rights manual
Available in English and Spanish.
Legal Clinic For Low-Income Workers
Low-income and homeless Mainers now have access to free legal services thanks to a new weekly clinic brought to Portland by the Southern Maine Workers’ Center and the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project.
Career Centers & Placement Help
Career Centers
Peer Workforce Navigator Project
Weekly walk-in clinics where multilingual staff assist with job search and unemployment insurance applications.
Walk-in clinics currently every Friday, 9am-1pm at ProsperityME, 175 Lancaster St, #216A, Portland, ME. Or contact here.
Amjambo Africa
207-553-2525
Job Postings
Greater Portland Career Center
151 Jetport Blvd.
207-822-3300
Job fairs are held at the Career Center on the first Wednesday of every month. They offer workshops on college planning, interviewing, and resume-writing skills. Also, check out the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program.
Goodwill Workforce Solutions
190 Lancaster Street, Suite 200
207-775-5891
New Mainers Resource Center (at Portland Adult Education)
14 Locust Street
207-874-8155
IntWork
Portland company that assists with placing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) professionals with local companies. There is no cost to the job seeker.
Temp Agencies
Bonney 207-773-3829
Adecco 207-772-2882
Manpower 207-774-8258
Springborn 207-761-8367
Becoming a Child Care Provider
Several people have asked how to become a childcare provider or how to help someone do so. Here are some thoughts on that topic.
Several people have asked how to become a childcare provider or how to help someone do so. Here are some thoughts on that topic.
Go through the process to become a “legal unlicensed childcare” provider via the Augusta DHHS childcare subsidy program. Using an example of a woman with her own child, who wants to provide daycare in her own home: This means she’d provide child care for up to two children in her home, and be eligible to receive child care subsidy payments through the state if the children she cares for are approved, as well as child food program funds. This option could take 8 weeks or more, but is excellent for someone who wants to work from home, has an appropriate home environment to accommodate two more kids, and is a bit entrepreneurial. Pay is by the day or week per child and ranges depending on the child’s age ($100-150/week per child in Cumberland County).
To become a Certified Family Child Care Home or Child Care CenterCall licensing @ 207-287-8016 or visit the How to Become a Provider page and click on “Start a Center based childcare program” or “Starting a family childcare home” on the left hand menu, follow prompts from there.
Fill out Unlicensed Provider Packet (see information here) and send to holly.harris@maine.gov
Once the filled out packet is received by DHHS, it takes a few days to process and run the background check.
When provider is approved, DHHS will send an award letter and billing forms. They do not backdate payments.
Once childcare begins: remember to have parents sign in/out their child each day and follow billing instructions provided with the billing forms.
Another viable option is to contact large daycare centers and consider applying for a job. Large centers are often hiring (though the pay isn’t great, maybe $8-9/hour). They generally do pay for training (like CPR/First Aid) and often let employees have their own children in the daycare. Could be good work experience and resume-building, as well as a more immediate solution. Indeed.com is a great way to find a job at a daycare center. She’d most likely find a job in a couple weeks due to the high need.
A third option is to respond to ads on Craigslist for childcare, babysitting or nannying. The right family might let her bring her baby and the pay is $10-20/hour. Transportation may be an issue, but there are families on the bus route advertising for help. (Responding to a Care.com ad for childcare is a possibility, too).
Childcare is a secure field with so many options. There is always a high need for experienced caregivers.