PORTLAND, Maine — Housing issues for immigrants in Maine took center stage as students with Portland Adult Education’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes held a forum in Portland on Tuesday.

Portland Adult Education provides services to people seeking to further their education. That includes those who come to the state as immigrants and asylum seekers.

More than 75 students engaged with state and local leaders at the Tuesday's forum to talk about critical issues, including housing and gun violence.

Panelists for the forum included Sarah Lawrence, district representative for Rep. Chellie Pingree’s office, South Portland State Rep. Deqa Dhalac, Westbrook City Councilor Claude Rwaganje and Portland Board of Public Education Chair Sarah Lentz.

“I’m really honored to be part of today's [Tuesday’s] panel,” said Lentz. “It really allowed us to address a lot of local and state issues, and it really had us understand the concerns for those who participated.”

The event was organized by Shoshana Hoose, the ESOL teacher at Portland Adult Education who wrote the curriculum. She says she organized the forum for students interested in a particular issue so they can learn what’s being done to resolve it.

“I want the students to be asking questions. The only way you learn more about a particular topic is by asking questions, and that’s what I hoped for with this forum,” said Hoose.

She says she’s happy with how the forum went on Tuesday and hopes this creates a path for her students to become more involved in the community around them.

“We had a similar event eight years ago and I learned some lessons for that,” said Hoose. “I hope that my students are able to go into the community and see what’s going around them and rather than realizing there needs to be change to actually be the change.”

Antonio Fueto is a student at Portland Adult Education and was the emcee for the forum. He says the forum got him interested in learning more about issues that are happening in the community, especially about housing.

“Housing is an issue we currently have in Maine and there’s a lot of immigrants in this area now and have been in the past,” said Fueto. “Finding housing is such a huge problem and they’re taking on this challenge, and it shows that the leaders in Maine are looking to help us.”