Coastal Enterprises begins Justice Fellowship program with 3 members

Courtesy / CEI The CEI Justice Fellows, from left: Joelle Mikobi, Winston “Tony” Orlando Anthony Antoine Jr. and Azenaide Pedro outside of CEI’s Brunswick headquarters.

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By Alexis Wells

Coastal Enterprises Inc., a Brunswick-based community development financial institution, has been joined by the first three members of its Justice Fellowship career development program.

The Justice Fellowship consists of one-year, full-time positions at CEI, where each fellow will bring lived experience and professional expertise to help CEI offer services and pursue policy initiatives that build a more equitable economy in Maine and other rural areas. The first cohort of fellows includes the following:

Azenaide Pedro is continuing her career journey at CEI after serving as the program specialist for CEI’s Child Care Business Lab initiative since 2020. Before coming to CEI, she worked at Raise-Op, a housing cooperative in Lewiston.

Pedro received her bachelor’s degree in public health from Monash University in South Africa and an associate degree in business administration and management from Central Maine Community College. She serves on the Lewiston Housing Authority and Promise Early Education boards and is a part of the LA Task Force team.

Winston “Tony” Orlando Anthony Antoine Jr. advocates for environmental justice. Antoine has served as a farm assistant at Replenova Farm, a climate justice coordinator at Maine Youth for Climate Justice, and a garden engagement coordinator at St. Mary’s Nutrition Center.

A teacher by training, he served on the Outdoor Equity Fund Community Advisory committee. He held positions at Black Owned Maine, the YMCA of Auburn-Lewiston, Outdoor Equity Fund Community Advisory committee and the Lewiston Housing Authority.

Antoine received his bachelor’s degree in romance languages, including Spanish, French and Italian, from Bowdoin College. He has continued his education at the University of Maine Farmington on second-language acquisition courses.

Joelle Mikobi brings a diverse skill set in customer service, operations and sales and is hoping to pursue work that involves helping immigrants and people living in poverty.

In 2022, Mikobi was a 2022 fellow of the Portland Empowered Civic and Community Engagement Fellowship and has held roles as a claims specialist with Maine Health, a customer service representative at Wex Inc. and in retail sales.

She holds an associate degree in social communication from the Catholic University of Congo-DRC and an associate degree in business administration from Southern Maine Community College. She is completing her bachelor’s degree at the University of Southern Maine.