SMPDC Economic Recovery Hub Program
The goal of the Economic Recovery Hub Program is to strengthen the network and success of small businesses in the York and Southern Oxford Counties. This program is funded by Federal ARPA funds awarded by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.
Technical Assistance Awards
The application portal is now closed. Thank you to all who have applied! We were pleased to see a great number of applications arrive in the last two weeks and are now in the process of reviewing those requests with the funding that remains available. Applicants may expect a response on the status of their applications in the coming week.
SMPDC is once again offering Technical Assistance Awards to small businesses and nonprofit organizations! Business owners and organization leaders may apply for one or both of the available services offered by the Hub Program's TA providers:
- Website Design
- Bookkeeping
To qualify, organizations or businesses must be located within the SMPDC service region (York County, Baldwin, Hiram, Porter, Denmark, Brownfield, Fryeburg, Sweden, Lovell, Stow or Stoneham, Maine) and employ between 0 and 35 staff. Previous Hub grant recipients may qualify for an additional reward and are encouraged to apply.
How does this award work?
Technical Assistance (TA) awards compensate our expert service professionals for their work in providing Web Design or Bookkeeping services to the awardee at no cost to the business or organization. These services are typically charged at $2,000 to $3,500 but are provided for free by this program. Qualifying applicants will be paired with a Hub Program TA Provider based in Southern Maine, who will coordinate with them to develop and carry out a work plan that will meet the specific needs of the awarded business/organization. Work plans must be carried out to completion with the TA provider before June 2025.
Free Business Skills Workshops
Winning Customers: A Hands-On Training Workshop for Small Business Success
Are you ready to find more customers and grow your business? In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to quickly generate, test, and implement innovative ideas that address your unique business challenges. Ensuring you stay ahead in today's competitive market, you’ll learn proven strategies that help successful businesses thrive and avoid the pitfalls that cause 42% of small businesses to fail because they solve the wrong problem for their customers.
Session 1 kicks off with a case study where you’ll solve a real-world challenge for a small business. Through an interactive and participatory, step-by-step process you’ll learn how to apply it to your own business. In Session 2, the focus is on your business, guiding you to uncover new ways to attract customers, increase loyalty, and stand out from the competition. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand, you’ll leave with practical, no-nonsense strategies you can start using right away to grow your business and avoid common mistakes.
Session 1: March 3rd @ 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Session 2: March 10th @ 3:30 - 5:00 pm
Location for both sessions: York County Adult Education at York Middle School, Room 2212, 30 Organug Road, York, ME 03909
Click here to register for the Winning Customers workshop!
Instructor: Justine Bassett, MS
Justine Bassett is an experienced leader who helps businesses and organizations advance their goals with a mix of strategy, creativity and design. She has led innovative transformations in multiple organizations such as the University of New England (UNE) and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Her business experience includes international work for large companies including MCI, Motorola and Bath Iron Works and has been a business leader at multiple small businesses and start-ups. Her business, Dynamic Foresight, provides business and strategy consulting and training to business leaders and organizations. Her work has been profiled in the Boston Globe, Downeast Magazine and Maine Magazine. In 2022, she was honored as one of Maine Magazine's “Mainers of the Year.”
Social Media For Business
Thanks to all who attended the first round of this training in December! Additional sessions in 2025 will be scheduled soon!
About this workshop:
Different from workshops offered online, this 2-session in-person workshop will be highly experiential, with each business owner or organization bringing a computer or phone with them to practice what they are learning as they are learning it.
Session 1 (90 minutes):
1) Platform choices, such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, etc.;
2) What to post, when and how to post, as well as how to create effective content for your target audience;
3) Best practices on each platform, how to use things like hashtags, how to draft the text for a post, and answer common questions;
4) Creating content with your smart phone and/or computer. Pictures and videos are easy and powerful forms of content, with many variables depending on the device and apps you're using;
5) Making simple videos and editing photos for posts. By the end of the first session the goal is that every participant will have gained hands-on experience making a video or photo practice post.
Session 2 (90 minutes):
6) Creating another practice post, and learning how to polish it up to include extra graphics, text, and images for maximum effect on social media;
7) Narrowing down target audiences, creating symbiotic partnerships with other businesses and influencers on social media;
8) Final questions and answers.
Instructor: Mike McKeen
Mike McKeen is an expert in social media and video. He graduated from Temple University with a degree in Broadcasting, Telecommunications & Mass Media, focusing in media marketing, audio production, and the music business. He has been running his own business, Tiger Funk Productions, for 12 years, specializing in producing video and audio content for small business owners. He has done social media management and now does coaching and consulting as well as producing podcasts for clients and organizations.
Storefront Design Workshop
Enhancing a storefront’s visual presence on the street can attract new customers and remind past customers to return. Learning storefront design skills from an expert is the goal of this workshop. A range of tools and tricks will be taught in a visual presentation, followed by the instructor, who is a designer herself, visiting some of the attendees shops to offer feedback and suggestions for making their storefronts more eye-catching.
Instructor: TBD
Other Hub Program Activities
Free Business Counseling
SMPDC is teaming up with experienced business counselors based in Southern Maine who provide free business counseling services. Counselors may refer a business to apply for a technical assistance grant or a financial grant and/or free training opportunities such as workshops and classes. SMPDC strongly recommends that prospective applicants seek guidance from one of the region's free business counseling services prior to applying for a Hub grant, as the counselor can assist in confirming the business’ eligibility and can advise on which service or grant to pursue.
Free collaborating counselors/mentors are listed below. Please let them know you are interested in a grant or other service offered by the SMPDC Recovery Hub Program. If they have a counseling form, please fill it out. If they don’t have a counseling form, just request a counselor in your email. They will respond quickly either way.
Free Business Skills Training
SMPDC collaborators offer business skills workshops and training opportunities free of cost. Businesses may be referred by counselors for training workshops or may explore opportunities through any of the following collaborators:
- Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
- Kennebec Savings Bank
- York County Adult Education (Hub 9) (see list of locations below)
Congratulations to our Hub grant awardees!
After the close of the final round of the SMPDC Economic Recovery Hub Grant programs for Financial Assistance Grants and round 2 of Technical Assistance awards, SMPDC issued 85 awards totaling more than $500,000 to small businesses across our region! All grant awardees are businesses with fewer than 25 employees who opened after January 1, 2020 and experienced impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.