ORONO, Maine — More than a dozen Maine organizations that work to complete economic improvement projects will receive $11 million in funding from the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC).
Gov. Janet Mills and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins announced the 16 recipients of the large monetary awards alongside officials from the NBRC at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center on Wednesday.
The awards are part of the NBRC's Catalyst Program, which drives economic development and infrastructure projects forward to improve designated counties throughout Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont.
UMaine will receive $1 million in funding, which will go toward building an Immersive Manufacturing Center called the "GEM Gateway" within its Green Engineering and Materials Factory of the Future.
The new mass timber manufacturing center will provide a workspace where manufacturers can focus on creating bio-based materials, UMaine President and UMaine System Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation Joan Ferrini-Mundy said.
"This project will enable the growth of a new, innovative, and sustainable form of wood residual manufacturing and the preparation of an innovation-ready Maine workforce," Ferrini-Mundy said.
Ferrini-Mundy said the new center will also connect Mainers with manufacturing job opportunities for years on end.
Gov. Mills and Sen. Collins said the $11 million funding from the NBRC will help drive wastewater treatments, road, trail, and airport improvements, and other economic projects that will make a daily impact on rural Maine communities that face disparities.
"These are ideas that come forward from the local communities. They’re homegrown, homebred," Gov. Mills said. "People know what they need in their communities. It’s not the federal government or state government telling them what they need. It’s the people in those communities telling us what they really need to improve their infrastructure, to make economic improvements, to make living in rural Maine a success."
Sen. Collins said the 16 recipients focus on improving day-to-day life for people who call Maine home.
"What they all have in common is providing economic opportunity to the people who live in the northern rural counties," Sen. Collins said.
The NBRC is a partnership between Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. The commission was created by Congress in 2008 and is funded by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Commission’s Federal Appropriation.
To view the full list of recipients, click here.