LEWISTON — Several Lewiston-based cooperative organizations will benefit from funding awarded Thursday during a ceremony at New Roots Farm, the first immigrant-owned farm in Maine.

The news conference was held to announce $624,892 to the Cooperative Development Institute, which will provide support to small businesses run cooperatively, including five Lewiston-area organizations.

USDA Rural Development announced the funding during Cooperatives Month, with officials stating the money “will help expand the cooperative ecosystem in Maine and the northeast to create businesses, secure jobs, and build a more resilient rural economy.”

In Lewiston, those businesses include New Roots Farm, the Isuken Co-Op, the Community Food Center at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, Herban Works at the Center for Wisdom’s Women, and the Raise Op housing cooperative.

A cooperative is a type of organization that is both owned and controlled by its members, who also benefit from the use of its services and products.

During the ceremony, members of New Roots Farm talked about their progression from the Cultivating Community training farm in Lisbon to present day, where they are members of a growing cooperatively-owned business.

USDA Rural Development State Director Tim Hobbs speaks during a funding announcement at New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

“We’re at a position where we can do more,” said Seynab Ali through an interpreter, thanking those involved in the funding for “keeping us sustained.”

“We still have dreams, we still want to do more,” he added, to be a role model to other new Mainers.

Isnino Ibrahim from the Isuken Co-Op, said one of her concerns when she came to the country was “how am I going to use what I learned back home? Members of the Isuken Co-Op made injera, sambusa and chai tea for guests.

“I appreciate those who have helped me accomplish that,” she said.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, through a prerecorded video, said cooperatives in agriculture “are a great idea,” and that the funding announcement Thursday can “help stimulate the co-op movement in Maine.”

“They will make a difference in the supply chain for food, the agriculture economy and in real people’s lives,” he said.

King added that New Roots Farm is a perfect showcase of the co-op model combined with new Mainers becoming an important part of Maine’s economy.

According to a news release, the USDA Rural Development funding will be split into three separate grants.

Guests were spaced socially distanced apart during the USDA funding announcement at New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Roughly $250,000 will fund the Rebuilding the Rural Economy Training Program, a two-year program for seven recipient organizations in Androscoggin, Oxford, Waldo and Washington counties.

Another $200,000 will improve the economic conditions of rural areas through cooperative development, including the creation of new co-ops and mutually-owned businesses, and strengthening the infrastructure to support cooperatively structured businesses.

The remaining $174,ooo will go to the Cooperative Development Institute’s Equitable Economy program, which helps socially disadvantaged immigrants and refugees “build financial resilience, leadership skills and successful cooperative business knowledge.”

Maine Sen. Nate Libby of Lewiston said Thursday that the co-op movement is an “effective remedy” to many of the challenges facing Mainers, like raising household incomes and addressing poverty.

Lewiston City Councilor Safiya Khalid, speaking briefly, said the event held at New Roots Farm is “another milestone for our new Mainer population.”

Lewiston City Councilor Safiya Khalid finishes her speech during the USDA funding announcement at New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston on Thursday. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Sherie Blumenthal, manager of community programs for St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, said much of the organization’s recent work has been focused on the pandemic, including delivering meals and other essentials to those in need. But she said the funding will hopefully help the organization’s work to develop cooperative efforts like a co-op grocery store.

Betty Riggins, a representative from Herban Works, which creates herbal healing salves, teas, and other items, said the funding will help the organization reach the next phase of its work.

Last year, the Center for Wisdom’s Women opened Sophia’s House, a six-bed, long-term residential community for women survivors of addiction, trafficking and incarceration. Advocates have said an in-house cooperative enterprise can provide women with built-in job opportunities and skills.

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