North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation’s Regional Business Investment Fund Establishes Community Center
Pictured Left to Right in the photo are Sandie Cataldo, senior economic development manager, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation; Cailte Kelley, Edward Jones and WCAC board member; Miranda Jennings, executive director, Winchendon CAC; and Rebecca Beaton, vice president of lending, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation.
The WCAC received a loan of $216,000 from NCMDC’s RBIF, in partnership with Athol Savings Bank, to renovate the space formerly known as Playaway Bowling Alley. The non-profit organization serves more than 450 households by providing healthy food, emergency heating services, housing assistance, economic mobility, and more.
The new, larger space will allow the WCAC to grow the services it offers and expand its reach into the community. The new facility will be known as “Winchendon Works Community Hub,” and has plans to include youth empowerment programs, services for those struggling with chronic health issues, and even a grocery store to promote food security.
“As the need for equitable access to healthy food, housing, and economic mobility grows, the WCAC is expanding to answer the call,” said Miranda Jennings, executive director, WCAC, “Thank you to the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation for offering this type of funding to support our expansion and helping us offer more services to those who need it the most.”
The Regional Business Investment Fund (RBIF) is an initiative recommended by the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce One North Central regional economic development plan to encourage more real estate development in the region. The funding can be used by developers for engineering, soft costs, site work, infrastructure and hard costs for specific developments in the 26 communities that make up the North Central region.
North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce leads effort to install welcome signage in Westminster
The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce today announced it has sponsored the construction of a new welcome sign at the intersection of West Main Street and Route 140 near the Westminster Senior Center in the Town of Westminster.
The new sign is part of a project to construct welcome signs at key gateways in the region to boost civic pride and serve as a positive first impression for visitors. The project was partially funded by a grant secured by the Chamber.
The signs were designed and produced by Add-A-Sign in Leominster and represent the region’s traditional New England style. The Westminster welcome sign includes a carving of the Town of Westminster seal and is painted in the proud town color of red.
“One of the goals of our regional economic development plan, One North Central, was to capitalize on our region’s unique locations,” said Roy Nascimento, President and CEO, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. “Each community brings a distinctive experience to the region and with this project, those entering Westminster will learn about the town while receiving a warm welcome as they arrive.”
“Westminster is the ideal location to live, work and play while maintaining the sense of a friendly New England town,” said Stephanie Lahtinen, town administrator, Town of Westminster. “Many thanks to the Chamber for the opportunity to provide warm welcome to our town for our visitors and residents alike.”
In addition to Westminster, similar welcome signs have been installed at key gateways in Fitchburg, Gardner, Hubbardston and Leominster. Each sign is carved with the community’s seal and painted to match their official colors. Additional signs will be constructed for other communities in North Central Massachusetts as funding becomes available.
Healey-Driscoll Administration Requests President Biden Issue a Major Disaster Declaration Following Devastating Impacts of September 11-13 Storms
Governor Maura Healey has requested a Major Disaster Declaration from President Biden to support the ongoing recovery of Massachusetts communities impacted by severe weather and flooding in September. If granted, this declaration would secure access to federal assistance programs for Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester counties.
The storm that began on September 11 caused extensive flooding across the state and required evacuations, sheltering, water rescues, and construction of temporary roadways to allow residents and first responders access to homes.
“I saw first-hand the devastating impacts our communities experienced from the September storms. The extraordinarily heavy rainfall flooded thousands of homes and businesses, destroyed infrastructure, and required a significant public safety response,” said Governor Healey. “I’m requesting federal assistance to support our ongoing recovery efforts as communities and residents continue to rebuild.”
“Some cities and towns experienced more than seven inches of rain in a very short time,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. “A major disaster declaration is critical to helping our communities and residents gain access to federal assistance as they face an extensive recovery.”
Under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the President can declare a major disaster for any natural event they determine has caused damage that exceeds the combined capabilities of state and local governments to respond. A major disaster declaration provides federal assistance for individuals and public infrastructure through FEMA’s Public Assistance and Individual Assistance programs, as well as hazard mitigation assistance, which provides funding for eligible mitigation measures that reduce disaster losses.
Following a disaster, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) works directly with counterparts at FEMA Region 1 and impacted cities and towns to assess potentially reimbursable damages caused by, and costs related to, the disaster. Once these assessments are complete, FEMA validates whether the state and impacted counties have reached the required federal damage thresholds for a Major Disaster Declaration.
“Beginning on September 11, MEMA staff responded to Attleboro, North Attleboro, Lancaster, Leominster, Princeton, Springfield, and Sterling to support community response and recovery activities. I want to thank all of the state and municipal agencies, volunteers, and non-governmental organizations who worked together to respond to the storm, as well as the Healey-Driscoll Administration for their leadership,” said MEMA Director Dawn Brantley. “FEMA has been an excellent partner through the process of conducting joint preliminary damage assessments, and MEMA recognizes the commitment of the communities that dedicated significant time and attention to this endeavor while also facing the challenges of recovery.”
In response to the severe weather impacts, Governor Healey directed the execution of the State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, activation of the state’s Regional Emergency Operations Centers, and declared a State of Emergency on September 12, 2023. The administration also developed a website to centralize available resources for residents, businesses, and communities, which is continually updated.
Mass. Eyes Trillion-Dollar State Club
Source: State House News Service
Author: Colin A. Young
The broad goal of the economic development plan the Healey administration put forward this week is to build upon the state’s strong points to keep Massachusetts an ideal place to live, raise a family and grow a business well into the future.
But another aspiration was revealed Wednesday when Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao detailed the plan for lawmakers — for Massachusetts to join the small club of states that have a gross domestic product of $1 trillion or more.
The plan’s vision matches up traditional economic development topics like talent attraction and retention, boosting housing production, making public transportation more reliable, and streamlining access to state resources with Healey’s specific emphasis on values like inclusion as well as state policies around reproductive and civil rights. It aims to “lengthen our lead” in sectors like life sciences, health care, and advanced manufacturing, while also seizing opportunities to become new leaders in climate tech and tourism.
Photo Credit: State House News Service
“This is the way we become more than a trillion,” Hao said in response to a question from Sen. Barry Finegold, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. She added, “The majority of our economy is aligned around industries that are growing — health care is growing, life sciences is growing, climate tech is growing, advanced manufacturing is growing, AI is growing, robotics are growing. So we have a ton of tailwinds in growth sectors and so we just need to make sure that we continue to lengthen our lead and continue to invest and continue to implement all of these initiatives here. Those sectors are growing already. If we can just continue to — not even just hold our share, but even increase our share, we’re going to become a trillion dollar GDP.”
GDP measures the market value of the goods and services produced in a state. Massachusetts had a GDP of $691.46 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. Only five states had a GDP equal to or greater than $1 trillion last year: California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.
The discussion of a $1 trillion GDP as a goal for Massachusetts spurred Sen. Liz Miranda to highlight that using GDP as a measurement has “fostered a fixation on growing the pie that sometimes ignores” that economic growth is not spread evenly across the state but often concentrated in a select few areas.
Massachusetts is the most educated and wealthiest state in the country, the administration’s economic development plan says, but it is also the third-most unequal of the states, based on 2022’s Gini coefficient, a common measure of inequality that economists rely upon.
Miranda said she was “really feeling like we can’t totally evaluate the effectiveness of our economic development policies without a consistent, high-quality measure of how economic growth is distributed in the commonwealth, particularly across geographic and non-geographic communities who have historically been in lowest percentiles and living in the margins.”
“I know it’s incredibly important, we want to grow to a trillion. But how do we actually measure that so we actually know the truth about how it’s being distributed across the commonwealth?” Miranda asked Hao.
The secretary said she sees there being two ways to achieve equality: “We can be more equal but have everything stay the same. Or the real way to get equity, I think, is to continue to grow and have everyone lift up and to close the gap.”
“And so I think we need to measure multiple metrics. So looking at GDP overall is important, looking at GDP growth is important. But looking at the gap, and closing the gap, is really important. And so the Gini coefficient is a number that I pay a lot of attention to. I’m a former economist, and it is the universal way to look at income inequality. In our state, we want to look at Gini coefficient by different areas — by race, but also by region. Our gap in race is quite dramatic. So if you look at kind of average income by race, it’s a $20,000-$30,000 difference. It’s also equally dramatic by region. Western Mass. versus Eastern Mass., even amongst people of the same race, is $20,000 or $30,000. And so we have a lot of work to do on thinking about income inequality.”
North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation announces Regional Business Investment Fund
The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation, the economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, recently announced a new funding opportunity to provide low or no-cost funds to developers.
The Regional Business Investment Fund (RBIF) is an initiative recommended by the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce One North Central regional economic development plan to encourage more real estate development in the region. The funding can be used by developers for engineering, soft costs, site work, infrastructure, and hard costs for specific developments in the 26 communities that make up the North Central region.
“As part of our One North Central plan, we learned that investment in new, ground-up real estate development has been limited in the region,” said Roy Nascimento, President and CEO, North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation. “Through this new fund, we are able to pool resources and coordinate efforts to help mitigate costs for developers to encourage them to look at our region for their next project.”
The RBIF differs from other loan programs offered through the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation. The loans are very flexible and geared towards real estate projects, with flexible repayment terms, and can be used to cover soft costs and other expenses not traditionally covered by lenders. Also, unlike other loan programs, the RBIF can be used for housing projects and non-profits are also eligible. Projects in the communities that contribute toward the fund are given priority. The RBIF loans are intended to work in conjunction with other local, state, and federal incentives and financing to encourage priority real estate development projects in the region. Documented support from the local municipality must be provided to be eligible.
Initial seed funding of $500,000 was provided by the City of Fitchburg and the City of Gardner through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, with each city providing $250,000, as well as matching funding of $250,000 from the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation. The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation hopes to secure additional funding over time to help grow the fund and have a larger impact in projects.
A project in the city of Fitchburg was the first to receive funding under the RBIF loan program for a property located at 332-244 Main Street, known as the Dickenson Building. A loan of $60,000 was provided to property owner Christopher Iousa and will be utilized to repair an exterior wall to ensure safety for both the new plaza where the façade overhangs and for the tenants inside of the building over the next few months. Without repair, the issue would impact approximately 31 total employees while also leaving a blighted building in the downtown area. The repair also opens up the building to future housing development on the top floors.
“The city of Fitchburg has already benefited from this unique funding opportunity with the work completed on Main Street,” said Mayor Stephen DiNatale, City of Fitchburg. “We thank the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation for their partnership in this program, which will provide an opportunity for developers to invest in Fitchburg and align with our efforts to reinvent our downtown.”
“We’ve been working to attract developers to our downtown area and this new opportunity through this new regional fund will enhance our current efforts,” said Mayor Michael Nicholson, City of Gardner. “With this new tool in our economic development toolbox, we hope developers will see Gardner as a place with tremendous opportunity to grow and sustain a property.”