Belfast is hoping to make it two years in a row in securing a $100,000 Community Development Block Grant Community Enterprise Grant from the State of Maine. If the City of Belfast is again successful in securing this grant, it will be used to capitalize a business façade grant program that will provide subgrants to eligible entities.

Eligible entities would be Belfast businesses (either for-profit or nonprofit ones) who wish to have the exteriors of their commercial spaces improved, or owners of buildings in Belfast who have vacant commercial spaces whose exteriors could be improved in order to attract new tenants, according to a news release from City Hall.

A property would also need to be able to secure a spot blight determination in order to be eligible for a business façade grant.

The City of Belfast believes that it will be much more competitive in attempting to secure this new, additional grant funding from the State of Maine if it can document the demand for funding for façade improvement projects. To that end, it is asking those eligible entities who are interested in this opportunity to submit an application for their project to the City of Belfast by 5 p.m, Monday, April 5.

According to Belfast Economic Development Director Thomas Kittredge: “While the City of Belfast was quite fortunate to have secured one of these grants just last year, unfortunately that was not enough to allow us to provide financial support to every worthy façade improvement project for which an application was submitted to the City. We believe that another one of these grants is definitely needed at this time in order to satisfy at least some portion of the unmet demand that exists.”

More information regarding this opportunity, including the application that is available for download, can be found at www.cityofbelfast.org/facade. The application can also be requested from, and questions regarding this opportunity can be directed to, Thomas Kittredge, Economic Development Director, at (207) 338-3370, extension 116, or via e-mail at economicdevelopment@cityofbelfast.org.

Finally, to assist anyone who is interested in this opportunity and in submitting an application, the City of Belfast will be holding a workshop at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, March 23, via Zoom. Those interested in participating in this workshop are required to register in advance at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsdOuvrTsuG9D69TYKtBkuHbpo5p2j3kYp.

Each year the State of Maine receives a formula allocation of funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development that is distributed under the Community Development Block Grant Program. This program is administered by the Maine Office of Community Development and is used to assist units of local government in various community projects in areas ranging from infrastructure, housing, and downtown revitalization, to public facilities and economic development.