On Friday, March 11, the Portland Press Herald published an Op-Ed jointly written by MECA&D Trustee Reza Jalali and President Laura Freid about the ongoing struggles in Ukraine and the role Greater Portland must continue to play in supporting refugees from around the world.
“At Maine College of Art and Design, our students make sense of these traumatic situations through creative expression and insight that help us all to process the human condition and give us hope of a better world to come,” they write. “We at Maine College of Art & Design and the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center stand in solidarity with the ordinary Ukrainians.”
The piece reminds the local community that we are all refugees, and that “as Mainers, we are called to open our hearts and then our homes to the refugees who seek shelter and a new life here.”
