16 coworking spaces across Maine win grants from restored state fund
Photo / William Hall
CoworkHERS, in downtown Portland, is one of 16 shared workspaces that have received grants from a restored state fund. This year's grants total $200,000.
Four years since making its initial grants, the state’s long-dormant Coworking Development Fund has awarded a second round of them to shared business spaces in 12 communities across Maine.
A total of 16 coworking centers and maker spaces, from Millinocket to Ellsworth to Biddeford, have received grants totaling $200,000, according to a news release Tuesday from the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development.
Grants can run as large as $20,000. The department, which oversees the fund, did not disclose the amounts of individual awards.
The coworking fund was created in 2015, and provided $100,000 in grants that year to businesses in Augusta, Bethel, Biddeford, Brunswick, Millinocket and Portland. But the program was zeroed out by then-Gov. Paul LePage in subsequent budgets.
Gov. Janet Mills sought to restore financing for the program and the state Legislature earlier this year approved a budget doubling the program's initial fund.
The legislation was sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, who has been a strong supporter of collaborative workspaces.
“More and more companies are shifting to unconventional work structures, like encouraging remote employees, and young entrepreneurs are looking for affordable space to get their ventures off the ground,” he said in the release. “These collaborative workplaces provide that space while also connecting communities and driving economic growth.”
Build-out is frequently the biggest barrier to getting a coworking business started, he has said.
The 2019 version of the coworking program used a competitive application process rather than the request-for-proposals in the initial fund. The new version also had more stringent application requirements and gave more weight to those starting a business rather than expanding.
The DECD said all 16 grant recipients support the fund’s goals of strengthening opportunities for entrepreneurship; stimulating innovation; and addressing regional market demand for affordable work environments with communication, information sharing and networking opportunities.
The recipients will participate in a “Coworking Codesign Cohort” with regular meetings to encourage collaboration among the spaces, according to the release.
“Attracting talented people to live and work in Maine, especially in rural communities across our state, is critical to expanding our economy and building a better future for our state,” Mills said.
“Coworking spaces create community hubs that foster the flexibility and ingenuity employers and employees need to work in our 21st-century economy. I look forward to the economic and community development these grants will support.”
2019 Coworking Development Fund recipients
Bricks Coworking & Innovation Space, Waterville
Cloudport, Portland
CoVort Coworking, Bangor
CoworkHERS, Portland
Factory 3, Portland
Four Directions Development Corp., Pleasant Point
487 Development Corp., Pittsfield
Mayo Mill, Dover-Foxcroft
Open Bench Project, Portland
Our Katahdin, Millinocket
Peloton Labs, Portland
School Street Cowork, Bath
SoPoCoWorks, South Portland
ThinkTank Biddeford, Biddeford
Union + Co, Bath
Union River Center for Innovation, Ellsworth
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