🔒Public money for coworking spaces is freed up

Grants of up to $20,000 will be available for development or creation of coworking space, after the long-dormant Maine Coworking Development fund was restored this year.

The Department of Economic and Community Development’s Office of Business Development held a recent meeting in Augusta for those interested in the grants.

The Maine Department of Economic & Community Development’s Office of Business Development will oversee distribution of up to $200,000 in grants for projects that strengthen opportunities for entrepreneurship, stimulate innovation and address regional market demand for affordable work environments that support communication, information sharing and networking opportunities.

The fund is weighted toward projects in economically distressed areas. DECD will also launch regular get-togethers of participating coworking spaces to encourage connections and collaboration among the state’s collaborative work businesses.

The fund, which was created in 2015, provided $100,000 in grants in its first year to businesses in Brunswick, Portland, Biddeford, Augusta, Millinocket and Bethel, but was zeroed out by Gov. Paul LePage in subsequent budgets. The $200,000 approved this year is the first funding since the initial round.

The 2019 version calls for a competitive application process rather than the requests for proposals the initial fund sought. It also has more stringent application requirements and gives more weight to those starting a business rather than expanding.

Multi-faceted economy booster

Heather Johnson, who was named DECD commissioner in the Mills administration, said in the release that coworking Is “at the nexus of multiple areas of economic strategy — they are among the amenities that can be offered to tourists, they serve as a hub of information and community for remote workers, and they serve as a signal to entrepreneurs and new businesses that a community understands the value of connection.”

“Coworking spaces,” she added, “build community and connection for early-stage entrepreneurs, freelancers and remote workers. They foster dreaming, sharing, and risk-taking through their energy, density of people, and community-building activities.”

Applications for funds should meet five criteria: connection to program goals, application enterprise and team, project goals and impact, economic and community impact, and business plan and budget. Projects in economically distressed geographic areas will be given additional consideration.

The funding this year was supported by Gov. Janet Mills, who “recognized that coworking is a promising opportunity for entrepreneurs,” when she included it in her budget, DECD said in a press release.

The bill was sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, who has been a strong supporter of collaborative workspaces. Coworking spaces “are sought after by young professionals and are increasingly the cornerstones for communities revitalizing vacant spaces in downtowns,” he said earlier this year.

Build-out is frequently the biggest barrier to getting a coworking business started, he added.

The bill passed this year also looks to track how effective the funding is. It requires, beginning in February, that the Legislature gets a report on the number of applications, how many were approved, how many workspaces were created through the fund, how many tenants and participants each one has, how many jobs were provided, the occupancy rate of each, the number of tenants who left to operate in their own space and the number of jobs those businesses have provided.

Information about the program within the DCED Office of Business Development’s website. For more information, contact Martha Bentley at martha.m.bentley@maine.gov.