SCORE’s northern Maine chapter has been recognized with the SBA’s 2026 National SCORE Chapter of the Year Award.
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Despite the challenges of starting a business in rural northern Maine, a dozen volunteers with the region’s SCORE chapter mentored 246 new clients in 2025 — an 8.4% increase over the previous year.
“The numbers suggest the current climate is good" for launching a business, said David Green, a Bangor-based certified SCORE mentor who chairs SCORE Northern Maine and shared the data with Mainebiz.
For its hands-on work helping entrepreneurs start new ventures and grow existing ones, the chapter has been recognized with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2026 National SCORE Chapter of the Year Award.
The northern Maine branch is one of three SCORE chapters in Maine. Besides Bangor, SCORE Northern Maine has mentors on the ground in Belfast, Rockland, Owl’s Head, Houlton and Fort Fairfield, according to Green. Clients include Tiny Homes of Maine, which was acquired by Hancock Lumber in 2024, and a Searsport-based artisan boutique and gift shop called Trove. “Every day, the incredible volunteers from the northern Maine SCORE chapter provide mentoring and advising to entrepreneurs striving to achieve the American dream in the most rural parts of the state,” said Diane Sturgeon, the SBA's Maine district director. “While we’ve always recognized the exceptional work done by SCORE in Maine, we are thrilled that the efforts of SCORE mentors are being recognized at the national level, shining a spotlight on the amazing work they do,” she added. Green told Mainebiz that while SCORE does not track startup activity by industry, mentors are working with entrepreneurs in a range of sectors, including agriculture, forestry, hospitality and manufacturing. For the group’s newest program, it has joined forces with the United Technologies Center in Bangor to mentor students working towards earning an associate’s degree in business. “We mentored 15 students, many of whom started a business,” he said. SCORE, a resource partner of the SBA, is the nation’s largest volunteer business mentoring organization with roots going back to 1964.