Gardiner Food Co-op & Café awarded $90K grant
The Gardiner Food Co-op & Café has been awarded a $90,000 Community Development Block Grant to create new jobs with the opening of its storefront in late May.
Gardiner Economic Development Coordinator Patrick Wright noted in a press release that the grant was secured through the city’s sponsorship. “The co-op project is a perfect example of the convergence of community and economic development,” he said. “The future economy in Maine will be based on the confluence of quality of place along with balancing a local and global economy.”
Grant funds awarded to the co-op will be used to provide working capital and to acquire much-needed equipment for the storefront at 269 Water St. in the heart of Gardiner’s re-emerging historic district. The co-op, which started as the Kennebec Local Food Initiative before coming into its current form over the past three years, has direct access from the municipal parking lot and is seen as an anchor that will provide foot traffic for other downtown businesses.
“The Gardiner Food Co-op will have a positive impact both within the city of Gardiner and the region by creating new employment opportunities, and providing a market for local products and vendors,” Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner George Gervais said in the press release announcing the grant. “This project is a great example of the intent of our CDBG Economic Development Program which focuses on encouraging local businesses and incorporating new private investment into our economic development infrastructure.”
Maine’s Community Development Block Grant Program is funded annually through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. In 2014 there were 29 applications received by the CDBG Economic Development Program totaling over $7 million in requests. Of these, 18 applications were funded through the program’s $2.7 million allocation.
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