Placemaking program offers up to $50K in matching funds

A program launched by MassDevelopment in June offers up to $50,000 in funding matches for “placemaking” projects that will serve low- and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods.
 
Communities and nonprofits must meet specific qualifying criteria before they can participate in the Commonwealth Places program, but Victoria Maguire, MassDevelopment’s senior vice president for real estate operations, said the agency encourages all communities to get in touch with them if they have an idea they want to explore.
 
“What we really want to do is encourage people to take that first step, have the conversation with us, and we can figure out how to make it work,” Maguire said. “The more we can encourage people to engage with us, the better chance we have of funding some special projects that have been sitting on a shelf because no one knew how to get them going.”
 
Local public and nonprofit entities may apply if they are in a census tract where the average household income is less than 120 percent of area median income, or if they can demonstrate how the project otherwise would serve households that fall below that threshold. Preference also goes to projects that would help revitalize a traditional downtown or commercial district. Amanda Maher, vice president for real estate/municipal services at MassDevelopment, pointed out that lower-income census tracks can have high vacancy rates in their business districts.
 
“We see placemaking efforts as a first step in trying to get something going in these downtowns and districts,” she said.
 
Communities selected to participate will work closely with consultant Patronicity, which will work with the applicant to develop a marketing strategy and build a crowdfunding campaign, which can include incentives for people who donate to the project.
 
Communities and nonprofits set a goal for their crowdfunding campaign, and if they reach the goal within 60 days, MassDevelopment will match the funds raised, up to $50,000. The project would be required to begin within six months.
 
So far, two projects have completed their crowdfunding campaigns and met their goals: a pocket park off Main Street in downtown Orange and a nature and environmental education center at Endicott Park in Danvers. Projects currently raising community funds are a Main Street alley parklet in Northampton, a honeybee meadow in Maynard, an artist and creative center in New Bedford, and shop for “pop-up” businesses in downtown Ashland.
 
Even if a project doesn’t meet its crowdfunding goal, the community or nonprofit can set it up so that any funds raised will go toward a portion of the project.
 
There’s also the option of applying for temporary activations, with matching funds up to $7,5000, for projects that don’t necessarily change the space but temporarily activate it, such as a movie series in a park, with funds going to purchase a projector, screen and chairs. (One-day festivals and events would not be eligible.)
 
For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/CommonwealthPlaces or contact Amanda Maher at (617) 330-2053 or amaher@massdevelopment.com.