FILE PHOTO / FRED FIELD
In this photo from 2024, Bonita Tompkins watches Rosie King work with a bead spinner.
May 18, 2025
Farmington program for youth-run startups will expand on 6-acre site
Rendering / Courtesy Platz Associates
Plans include a manufacturing center and mixed-use marketplace and shops with Maine-made products, food incubators and greenhouse and gardens.
A Farmington program for youth-run startups closed on a six-acre property, at 165 Whittier Road in Farmington, that will allow it to pursue plans for a campus expansion.
The nonprofit Center for Entrepreneurial Studies received financing for the purchase from the Brunswick-based nonprofit Genesis Community Loan Fund.
“This is a milestone for CES and our community,” said Bonita Tompkins, the center’s founder and executive director. “With this property, we are creating a fabulous space where young people can learn, grow and develop entrepreneurial skills that will empower them to shape their future in Maine.”
Youth entrepreneurs
Founded in 2018, the center is a nonprofit entrepreneurial studies program for youth and young adults, who are called “Changemakers.” In 2020, the center opened a 3,000-square-foot storefront and maker space at 156 Main St. for youth to create and sell goods and develop workforce skills.
The center then collaborated with Manchester-based Kennebec Cabin Co. — which produces the renovation reality show “Maine Cabin Masters” — to build a tiny home in a building shell provided by OpBox, a Woolwich maker of modular structures. More than two dozen additional businesses contributed to the project, resulting in Maine’s first tiny home on wheels for homeless youth.
In 2022, the center provided owner financing to acquire the six-acre lot at 165 Whittier Road, with a goal to design a campus for agriculture, culinary education and home manufacturing and to provide internships and entrepreneurial opportunities for youth in Franklin County.
The conversion to Genesis Fund financing helps “bring vision to life in a part of Maine that truly needs and deserves it,” said Liza Fleming-Ives, the fund’s executive director.
The campus is just under a mile from the local high school.
Education hub
The plan is to develop the land into a hub for entrepreneurial education, offering hands-on training, mentorship and real-world business experiences for youth ages 10 to 24, along with opportunities for the community and adult mentors.
The project aligns with the center’s broader mission of addressing community challenges, such as the lack of safe, affordable housing and workforce readiness, through innovative and sustainable solutions.
With the help of volunteers, initial installations have included a fire pit and patio, a perennial garden, raised garden beds and the tiny home.
FILE PHOTO / COURTESY CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL STUDIES
In this photo from 2024, CES participants receive and process wholesale products for the downtown store.
The center said it’s seeking partnerships with local employers, businesses and volunteers to further the mission.
“We’re also calling on Maine businesses in modular housing, trades and workforce development,” said Tompkins. “If you’re looking for motivated young talent and want a pipeline for training, vetting and launching the next generation of skilled workers and entrepreneurs through our purposeful programming.”
Platz Associates, an architecture firm in Auburn, has completed renderings of the future campus, which will include a variety of spaces and resources, including:
- Mixed-use marketplace and shops featuring Maine-made products, food incubators and greenhouse and gardens
- Innovation and manufacturing center for modular home construction and trade skill enterprises
- Recreational trails for outdoor learning and wellness
To date, the center has supported over 144 youth and sparked the launch of 47 youth-owned businesses such as landscaping and handcrafted jewelry. Collectively, participants have completed over 21,000 hours of hands-on training and generated over $547,000 in retail sales through the center’s Main Street store.
“We’re making meaningful progress on stacking and braiding resources to fuel our next chapter,” said Tompkins.
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