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Lewiston, Maine – Governor Janet Mills visited Bourgeois Guitars and Quodi in Lewiston today to find out how new economic recovery grants through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan are helping two popular Maine businesses succeed. The governor was accompanied by Lewiston Mayor Carl Schelin during her visit.
Last month, Governor Mills announced the Pandemic Recovery Fund for the Innovative Maine Economy (PRIME) to select 174 Maine companies to receive more than $23 million in grant funding to encourage economic recovery and growth in Maine’s targeted technology sectors, including precision manufacturing. .
Top: Gove Mills with Bourgeois Guitars crew; Bottom: Government Mills with Kevin and Kirsten Shorey, co-owners of Cudi.
Bourgeois, which makes steel string guitars used by world-renowned musicians, received a $266,677 grant. Quoddy, the historic Maine handmade shoe brand, raised $190,000.
Many of Maine’s most innovative businesses were unable to receive federal aid during the worst of the pandemic. The PRIME Fund, administered by the Maine Institute of Technology, helps fill that gap and is focused on helping top-performing Maine businesses invest in new products and business lines, attract new customers, and create long-term economic growth.
“Maine small businesses like Bourgeois and Quoddy employ hard-working Maine people in good-paying jobs and produce popular products that are used around the world.” said Governor Janet Mills. Prime Fund is making direct and strategic investments in innovative businesses like Bourgeois and Quodi, helping Maine businesses not only recover from the pandemic, but thrive in the Maine and international markets for years to come.
“The entire team at Bourgeois Guitars was grateful that the buyer visited our workshop today. Governor Mills: Continued support of the river of talent that runs through the veins of Maine’s maker economy is critical not only to the health of organizations like ours, but to the continuity of the Maine brand. said Christopher Fleming, President and COO of Bourgeois Guitars. “The support we’re receiving from the PRIME Fund will help us maintain our workforce, mitigate growth and recover from the impact of the pandemic.”
We are pleased that Governor Mills took time out of her busy schedule to support a small manufacturing company and its employees here in Maine – benefiting from programs like PRIME that have impacted the pandemic. Quoddy co-owner Kevin Shorey said..
Before her visit to Bourgeois and Quoddy, the governor stopped at Simmons Hot Dog Stand in Lewiston and had lunch with Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque and State Senator Ned Claxton at Gritty McDuff in Auburn.
The PRIME Fund is the latest way Governor Mills is working to support Maine’s small businesses. Since the start of the pandemic, the Mills Administration has allocated more than $288 million in aid to support Maine small businesses in various sectors of the economy.
Two more rounds of PRIME grants are expected later this year. To qualify for a PRIME grant, businesses must be engaged in research, development or innovation in Maine’s designated technology sectors. Employ 250 full-time employees or fewer, and demonstrate that their business has been adversely affected by the outbreak.
Eligible uses of grant funds include payroll for businesses, rent or mortgage payments, purchases of business-related equipment, start-up costs for new programs and/or new markets that may require capital investment, and more.
The Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan is the governor’s plan, approved by the Legislature, to fund nearly $1 billion in federal American rescue plans to improve the lives of Maine people and families, help businesses, create good-paying jobs and build the economy. Ready for future prosperity.
It will turn recommendations from the Governor’s Economic Recovery Committee and the state’s 10-year economic development strategy into real action to improve the lives of Maine people and strengthen the economy.
To learn more about the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, visit maine.gov/jobsplan.
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