Grants up to $500K available to Maine communities
The Federal Northern Border Regional Commission has announced a new round of development and infrastructure grants for Maine communities, with the maximum grant for any applicant being $500,000 for infrastructure projects and $250,000 for other projects.
Grant applications are now available and can be accessed at the commission’s website here.
The commission’s grant programs cover 12 Maine counties: Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo, and Washington, according to Mark Scarano, the federal co-chairman of the commission.
Eligible grant projects must focus on revitalization of infrastructure, enhanced telecommunications, energy cost reduction, business and entrepreneurial assistance, leadership, and information sharing — all priorities of the commission's new five-year strategic plan.
In its six-year history, the NBRC has awarded 114 grants amounting to $20.6 million. Since it’s beginning every $1 of commission federal funds invested has been leveraged with approximately $3.40 of other funds.
Since 2010, the NRBC has provided $5.4 million in grants to Maine projects that received more than $20 million in matching funds.
Maine projects funded in 2016 included a $250,000 grant to Presque Isle Regional Airport that leveraged a $795,000 matching grant to construct a five-unit heated hangar for medical evacuation aircraft and to "attract business aviation clients. Another airport project involved a $250,000 grant to Eastern Slope Airport in Fryeburg, which leveraged a $750,000 matching grant, for build a new aircraft hangar "to attract new seasonal visitors and outside investors."
In March, the Bangor Daily News reported that the agency, whose mission is to aid "distressed" communities in 36 rural counties of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, is one of three regional economic commissions that have been zeroed out in Trump's proposed budget.
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