The Mills administration will be granting over $100,000 to a behavioral services provider to partner with immigrant advocacy nonprofits in combatting substance abuse among the Somali community in Lewiston and Androscoggin County.
According to a notice to waive competitive bidding (NOI) published Friday, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will be entering into a one-year, $110,000 no-bid contract with Portland-based Spurwink Services to hire a community health worker to provide “culturally competent” substance abuse treatment to the Somali population.
“The Somali community in greater Androscoggin County experiences barriers to SUD (substance use disorder) treatment, including, but not limited to, differences in language, preferences with culture, religion, and knowledge about SUD, recovery and other services,” the department wrote in the NOI.
The $110,000 grant will fund Spurwink to hire full-time community health worker who will partner with the New Mainers Public Health Initiative and Maine Immigration Refugee Services — two of the largest migrant advocacy organizations in the state — to “develop a pathway to responsive, culturally competent substance use treatment and recovery in Lewiston.”
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One of the stated aims of the program is to “encourage civic participation” among the Somali community in Androscoggin County.
The Maine Wire has previously reported on the Mills administration’s prior no-bid contracts to a wide array of “New Mainer” nonprofits for Community Health Outreach Workers (CHOWs).
From 2022 to 2024, the Mills Administration awarded millions in no-bid contracts, funded by federal COVID-19 relief, to nonprofits including Gateway Community Services and the New Mainers Public Health Initiative.
These groups hired CHOWs to provide services like dispersing groceries and facilitating welfare enrollment to immigrant communities in Maine. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) funded the CHOW program with a $1.5 million contract, later extended by $344,000 through June 2025.
A Robinson Report investigation raised concerns that these nonprofits, while delivering public health services, also maintained databases of beneficiaries that were potentially used for voter outreach efforts in Lewiston and Portland during the 2022 and 2024 elections.
