Governor Awards Framingham $125,000 To Create Microenterprise Center Downtown

Framingham won one of 13 communities to be awarded a Commonwealth’s Urban Agenda Grant, a new grant program created by the Baker-Polito Administration to unlock community-driven responses to local economic opportunities through partnership-building, problem-solving, and shared accountability.

Governor Charlie Baker unveiled the inaugural grant winners yesterday, January 13.

The awards, totaling $3 million in grant funding, will fund 16 economic development, planning, and housing development initiatives, across 13 communities.

An $125,000 Urban Agenda Grant was awarded to the South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC), in partnership with SMOC Financial Services, the Town of Framingham, Framingham Downtown Renaissance, Framingham State University, MetroWest Legal Services, Middlesex Savings Bank, MutualOne Bank, MassBay Community College, the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, and the Brazil New England Chamber of Commerce, to launch a one-stop microenterprise center that will boost entrepreneurship and the growth of startups by low- and moderate-income Framingham residents.

Governor Baker will be in Framingham this morning, January 14 to formally award the grant.

“The focus of our urban agenda is community empowerment across the Commonwealth, to meet local needs with locally driven solutions,” said Gov. Baker. “The partnerships that have formed in response to this new program will be essential to building leadership, collaboration, and capacity, while creating economic opportunities in the short term, and building a foundation for long-lasting economic development in our urban communities.”

“Urban Agenda grants build on our administration’s commitment to empowering communities,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, in a statement. “By supporting community-driven responses to local economic opportunities, this grant program will help transform urban neighborhoods.”

“By engaging cities and community-based organizations around local economic assets, urban agenda grants will help communities unlock dynamic growth,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Jay Ash.

The Commonwealth’s Urban Agenda promotes economic vitality and cultivates safer, stronger urban neighborhoods and communities throughout Massachusetts. The Urban Agenda grant program seeks to advance vibrant communities, and unlock economic mobility for residents, through community-based partnerships that address workforce development, entrepreneurship, and mixed-income housing development. The inaugural round of the grant program received 54 applications, requesting a total of $12.7 million in funding, from both Gateway Cities and non-Gateway communities of varying sizes.

The grant program made awards to three types of projects: economic development implementation grants, economic development planning grants, and housing grants.

Urban Agenda Economic Development Implementation grants will empower urban communities to advance employment and economic opportunity by providing flexible grant funding that supports creative local partnerships and capitalizes on local economic opportunities. The Urban Agenda Economic Development Implementation grant program challenged urban neighborhoods across Massachusetts to form partnerships that leverage existing economic assets, target specific workforce populations, define their economic development and quality of life goals, and then deliver on those goals.

This is the type of grant Framingham received.

Urban Agenda Planning and Technical Assistance grants will be used by communities to bring residents and other stakeholders together for a facilitated process to identify opportunities for shared work on quality-of-life issues, and to build coalitions and social capital within the community.

Urban Agenda Housing Program grants will assist municipalities in expanding housing opportunities by supporting predevelopment and soft costs related to the construction of multi-family housing, with a particular emphasis on housing opportunities that leverage vacant or under-utilized publicly-owned land.