ProsperityME: The Center for Financial Education

We Envision

That all of Maine’s refugees and immigrants, their families and communities, reach financial stability and improve their quality of life. 

Our Mission

ProsperityME empowers, through education and counseling, members of refugee and immigrant communities to invest in themselves to build financial stability, careers, businesses and wealth.

Founded in 2008 by Claude Rwaganje — a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo — ProsperityME is a non-profit service organization dedicated to helping Maine’s immigrants and refugees build successful, rewarding lives in their new homeland. Our services are open to all refugees, immigrants, asylees, and low-income individuals in Greater Portland and Lewiston/Auburn, Maine.

Many New Mainers come from cash-based societies and are unfamiliar with how money and credit work in America, our banking system and how to save for the future.  By providing basic money management understanding and skillsets, ProsperityME enables them to attain financial stability — the first step to fully integrating and participating in our communities, joining our workforce and planning for the future.

In the last 10 years, ProsperityME has conducted over 800 one-on-one financial counseling sessions and taught more than 250 courses at our Portland and Lewiston/Auburn learning centers.  All told, we have helped more than 5,000 refugees plan for the future and achieve their dreams! 

Our work is made possible by corporate partnerships and sponsorships, private donations and grants.  We are also grateful to the many volunteers who donate their valuable time and expertise to our programs and students.