The construction of Maine’s first Asian American community center may be endangered by spending freezes and cuts ordered by President Trump.
The executive director of the Cambodian community group, Khmer Maine, says the actions by Trump have caused a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about the center’s fate.
“It’s having a little bit of a chilling effect,” Marpheen Chann said.
As AsAmNews reported, the planning board of Westbrook, ME approved the plans back in August.
Together with the Cambodian Buddhist Watt Samaki Temple, Khmer Maine hoped to raise $7.5 million dollars in donations to supplement the $2.5 million in federal funding for the project.
Construction was scheduled to be completed in five years on 30 acres of land owned by the temple, according to the center’s website.
It says the goal of the center is to “increase accessibility to legal services, translation, citizenship support, and other important community resources.”
Calls to Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) who applied for federal funding have not been returned. Maine’s other senator, Susan Collins(R-Maine) serves as chair of the Senate appropriations committee. She referred calls to Sen. King.
“Our hope is resting a lot on Sen. King and Sen. Collins,” said Chann.
There are 25,000 Asian Americans currently living in Maine with about 10,000 Chinese and 6,000 East Indians.
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