Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Friday that the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded $500,000 worth of grants in an effort to “attract remote workers” to the state and help “integrate” those who are already here.
Funding for these grants comes from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan — Gov. Mills’ plan to invest nearly $1 billion in federal funding that was intended to help Maine recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This $500,000 allocation was spread across eleven projects, with individual grants ranging in value from $13,375 to $100,000.
The first group of awards — representing six of the eleven grants provided and totaling $80,250 — were described as going toward “pandemic-related recovery efforts.” Awards in this group were each equal to $13,375.
The total value of awards given out in the second group — intended for “business startup or expansion efforts” — was equal to $419,750 and included individual awards ranging from $67,750 to $100,000.
Based on these figures, grants for the “pandemic-related recovery efforts” make up about 16 percent of the funding provided, while the remaining 84 percent was distributed as awards for “business startup or expansion efforts.”
Click Here to See a Full Breakdown of the Awards
“During the pandemic, thousands of people decided to move to Maine and bring their work with them,” Mills said in her press release Friday. “These grants from my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan will create more workspace options for anyone who wants to make Maine their office and their home.”
“My Administration will continue to work hard to keep Maine the best place to live, work, start a business, and raise a family,” the governor wrote.
“Supporting remote workers who wish to move to Maine or who already call Maine home is critical to our economic growth,” said Heather Johnson, Commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development. “I look forward to seeing the enhanced and expanded opportunities for Maine workers that stem from these grant awards.”
“This funding will help us recover costs associated with increased HVAC capacity at the MaineStreet Business Building that will provide improved air quality, flow and control for our members,” said Denise Cilley, Associate Director of the Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC).
SCEC received one of the $13,375 grants intended for “pandemic-related recovery efforts.”
“Shifting midway through our design phase, also mid-pandemic, to meet our small business community’s needs and preferences was the right thing to do,” Cilley continued. “We at SCEC are grateful to the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan Coworking Grant program and Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s Office of Business Development for this grant.”
“Coworking spaces play a critical role in connecting remote workers, building community, and supporting the retention of this growing workforce in Maine,” said Nate Wildes, Executive Director of Live and Work in Maine.
Click Here to Read Gov. Mills’ Full Press Release
According to the Remote Worker Welcome Program webpage, a total of $5 million in Jobs and Recovery Plan funding has been dedicated to this program with the intention of “support[ing] outreach to potential remote workers and their employers.”
“It will provide resources for communities to attract and integrate remote workers and their families,” the site explains. “It will also offer funding to stabilize and expand coworking spaces that enable remote workers to build local networks and successfully contribute from Maine.”
In August of 2023, this program distributed an aggregate of $1.7 million to thirty-seven Maine libraries in increments ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 for projects designed “to establish or expand services for Maine’s remote workforce.”
Such efforts included “targeted resources, services, and physical space to support remote and hybrid workers, as well as business owners and entrepreneurs.”
Duh.. if you could work from home why would you work in the lowest rated, worse governed, highest taxed, worse school system state in the northeast? If it’s rural you’re looking for come to NH. I can’t wait to see where this money actually goes.
Why would you come to Maine? So you can be taxed up the wazoo? More of your money being frittered away.