About Maine Public News Connect

For over 60 years, Maine Public has built its reputation on connecting Maine and telling Maine stories. That is why we are so excited about launching the Maine Public News Connect project in 2021. Maine Public News Connect works to break down language barriers and provide more Mainers with access to reliable and relevant information and stories that shape our lives.

Maine Public News Connect delivers top stories across Maine each week through translated videos in French, Spanish, Somali, and Portuguese, and translated newsletters in French, Spanish, Somali, Portuguese, Khmer, and Arabic. We also provide English versions of the video and the newsletter as opportunities to advance language learning.

This news initiative was designed with the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, particularly with the help of Presente! Maine, Congolese, and Angolan communities of Maine.

Maine Public News Connect is curated each week by the Maine Public News Team led by Ari Snider. Ari reports on refugee, immigrant, and asylum-seeking communities in Maine. He grew up in Midcoast Maine and has reported for public radio stations in Southeast Alaska and Far West Texas, covering everything from salmon fishing to the restoration of a historic adobe church on the US-Mexico border.

He got his start in audio storytelling as an undergrad at Brown University and through internships at radio stations in Vermont and Rhode Island.

His work has won three Alaska Press Club awards and one Regional Murrow Award, and has aired on radio stations throughout Alaska, Texas, and New England.