The CHEETA Project

Welcome to the CHEETA Project!

The Community Hope through Education, Empowerment, Training and Action (CHEETA) Project is a service learning and leadership program that celebrates the cultural diversity of Portland, Maine. It was created and developed by refugee and immigrant high school students in Portland in 2010.

We are a project of the Portland Housing Authority and this summer we are expanding our programming to all 3 housing communities: Riverton Park, Kennedy Park, and Sagamore Village. The project itself centers around youth agency and leadership, thought the themes of social justice and community building are the underlying principle of any project created at CHEETA. At its heart it, this is a youth led project, encouraging activism and creating a space for students to voice their concerns for the future and take steps to impact it.

Feel free to explore our website for more information about our project and how to get involved (www.thecheetaproject.org).

Our Mission: We seek to promote social justice and equality by providing summer service learning projects and action oriented games, classes, and workshops for teens. Promoting critical reflection and dialogue between youth and their community helps foster leadership skills and get youth to take charge of their education and experiences to find new resourceful ways of engaging with the greater Portland Area.

We hire new staff every year beginning in January, so if you are interested in working with us, please check our postings or contact the director, Katherine Stitham, so we can give you further information.

The CHEETA Project is run under the Portland Housing Authority. More information at http://www.google.com/profiles/CHEETAproject or at www.thecheetaproject.org.