FCCDC Awarded M&T Amplify Grant | | |
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The FCCDC is proud to announce that we were selected to receive a grant from the M&T Bank Charitable Foundation through their Amplify Fund. We will receive $125,000 over two years.
Announced last year, the Amplify Fund is a $25 million philanthropic investment that was created to provide further support in the legacy People's United communities throughout New England and New York. Addressing the institutionalized and systemic issues preventing disadvantaged communities from accessing opportunities and achieving long-term success is key to the M&T Bank Charitable Foundation’s mission. The fund serves as an important resource in low- and moderate-income communities and underrepresented populations, supporting organizations that provide a host of direct services for individuals and families including access to affordable housing, childcare, healthcare, job training, and more.
Given the FCCDC's commitment to providing business development assistance to low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs, we applied for the grant and were chosen to receive the funds. Along with our partners at Springfield Neighborhood Housing Service, we will use this grant to provide counseling and mini-grants for business owners looking to start, stabilize, or grow their ventures. We look forward to the increased impact these funds will allow us to have!
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FCCDC Hiring
a Community Lending Associate
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Are you seeking meaningful, flexible, full-time work with a collaborative and supportive team? The Franklin County CDC is growing our lending program and is looking for an individual interested in supporting small businesses and community lending. The Community Lending Associate is a full-time position (37.5/week) that supports the Lending Program to ensure positive experiences for borrowers. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone interested in Community Economic Development. Join us and help make a difference!
FCCDC is a leading small business lender in western Massachusetts with a current portfolio of over 120 loans valued at approximately $7 million–and growing. In pursuit of our mission to align capital with social, economic, and racial justice, the Franklin County CDC works to drive transformational change in financially underserved communities. We help money flow to people and places traditional finance doesn’t reach.
See our full job description with instructions on how to apply. Review of applications has begun and will continue until the position is filled.
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WMFPC Focus: Cooler Space Available | | |
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It's cold outside, but did you know, in the cooler at the FCCDC's Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center (WMFPC), it's always a chilly 37 degrees? The cooler has 84 pallet spaces and currently we have openings for anyone interested in storing items there.
We are a full-service warehouse with loading docks and fork lifts. We do cross-docking storage for up to three business days for folks moving items north and south along I-91 and across east-west roads.
We also have limited space in our freezer, which stays a frosty -10 degrees.
If you are a restaurant, school, or institution, you may be interested in storing here. We have competitive rates. Find out more by contacting us at hello@fccdc.org, or call (413) 774-7204.
In other WMFPC news: It's prototype season! If you're looking for a food processing center to create a prototype of your food product, now's the time to contact us to get on our schedule.
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Mass. Food Trust Program:
A Big Impact Over Five Years
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Five years after its formation, the Massachusetts Food Trust Program (MFTP) has made quite an impact.
Since MFTP’s start in 2019, its investment of $5.57 million has leveraged $16.9 million in total project costs, and has brought 690,000 individuals expanded access to healthy, locally grown food.
Created by the Massachusetts Legislature and administered by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, the FCCDC, and the Food Trust, MFTP provides financing for food retail projects that bring healthy, locally grown food to underserved areas of the Commonwealth.
In 2023, MFTP funded 14 projects for 13 retailers, bringing improved healthy food options to 68,000 Massachusetts residents. That same year, the program led to the creation or retention of more than 200 jobs, with an average wage of $17.33 per hour. Ninety percent of those hires were made from within the local community, bringing economic opportunity along with healthy food options. Ten out of the 13 businesses are owned or substantially controlled by a person of color, and 6 of 13 are woman-owned.
See the latest edition of its quarterly newsletter to read more about what this program has accomplished over the last five years! If you're interested in financing for your food retail project, or know someone who is, see the Massachusetts Food Trust website.
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Entrepreneurship Accelerator Cohort Begins | |
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The Entrepreneurship Accelerator course of our UPstart Program has stepped on the gas! Eight early-stage entrepreneurs met for the first time in late January to begin on their road to business ownership. Congratulations to this group and good luck on your journey!
Our UPstart Program works to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Franklin County and beyond. Through two components, the Entrepreneurship Accelerator and the Take the Floor pitch contest, we work with early-stage entrepreneurs to think through, plan, and execute a business strategy. Max Fripp, an educator and consultant, and a member of the Franklin County CDC board of directors, leads the program. Learn more about our UPstart Program.
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Client Event: African Food Tasting Night | |
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Do you really need a reason to try the delicious offerings at Africana Bowl? If you do, get to Springfield on February 23 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. for an African Food Tasting Night in Celebration of Black History Month! Or just head on over to Locust Street any old time to sample their west African delicacies including pepper soup, ogbono soup with fufu, egusi soup with fufu, and fried plantains.
You can peruse the options and order ahead online.
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Client Update: Herbalism Class | |
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"Are you ready to part the mists and enter Avalon?" Alchemy of Avalon is offering a 9-month online Herbalism course. Owner Suzanne O'Gara invites all to join her for study and practice in "medicine making, materia medica studies, plant identification and foraging, ritual, spellcraft, and more."
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We love hosting visitors and showing them around our facility. In the last month, we welcomed several folks to the FCCDC: | |
Representatives from Big Y World Class Market are among our panel of expert mentors for the WMFPC's Wholesale Readiness Program, made possible by a USDA Local Food Promotion Program grant. They visited the food center in January. | |
It was great welcoming Jeffrey Sullivan and Hector Toledo from Springfield's New Valley Bank & Trust and talking about ways to work together to support small business owners across western Massachusetts. | |
Bill Seretta, Executive Director of Fork Food Lab in Portland, Maine, visited the WMFPC, in what turned out to be a homecoming, as Bill grew up in Greenfield. WMFPC staff visited Fork earlier this year while at the Northeast Center to Advance Food Safety conference. | |
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Can you feel it in the air? Warmer days with freezing nights means sugaring season is coming! Get a jump on the breakfast scene with this guide from our friends at Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA).
Pictured at left, a decorative bottle of gorgeous amber pure maple syrup from North Hadley Sugar Shack, a client of the FCCDC.
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Partner Offerings and Updates | |
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Classes and Workshops
Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR)
Food Entrepreneurship Classes
Free food entrepreneurship classes will be offered Wednesday evenings 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. from March 13 to May 22.
Free Business Formation Clinic
Join LCR on Thursday February 15, 2024 for an all day virtual clinic. Register here for an appointment to speak with a small business attorney via zoom for free at a time convenient for you! The link will require you to log in to Google to complete a form.
US Haitian Chamber of Commerce
Business Technical Assistance Classes
Schedule your free appointment online.
Valley CDC
Small Business Assistance Classes
Check out some of the great business classes on offer at the Valley Community Development Corporation! Classes and registration links are on the Valley CDC website.
Greenfield Savings Bank
Financial Literacy Workshops
Greenfield Savings Bank is offering financial literacy workshops to residents of Franklin and Hampshire Counties. These workshops are free and open to the general public; 4-6 weeks in duration; offer follow along workbooks for participants as young as elementary school age and a video tutorial that students can access at anytime; a friendly and welcoming teacher/student atmosphere; and a certificate upon completion from the course. Contact Mpress Nembhard, 413-775-8385, to bring these workshops to your workplace or community setting.
Job Openings
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
CISA is seeking a full-time Program Coordinator focused on helping farmers run thriving businesses. As a member of CISA's business support team, this staff member will focus on supporting farm owners and employees whose first language is not English, farmers with limited access to resources, immigrant and refugee farmers, and small-scale and urban farmers. Spanish language skills are strongly preferred.
The Food Bank Farm
The Food Bank's Cultivating for Community regenerative and education farm is seeking to contract a paid Vegetable Farm Apprentice for the 2024 growing season (March 18 – November 15). More information is on the Food Bank website.
Buyer/Renter Sought
The Farm Shop and Café in Hadley is for sale or lease. Please visit this website to learn more.
Survey for Business Owners
The Coalition for an Equitable Economy has partnered with The MassINC Polling Group and Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation on a new survey to understand the current state of Massachusetts small businesses, and their needs, challenges and opportunities for growth. Your feedback will be used to help inform policy and programmatic decisions about the support and resources small businesses need now and in the future. The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. Those who complete the survey will be in a raffle to win one of 10 $500 gift cards. Deadline is March 10. Take the survey.
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Just a reminder that we gratefully accept donations to help us deliver services to low and moderate income entrepreneurs and small business owners! Every gift is appreciated, and donations over $1,000 are eligible for a 50% tax credit (so you can double your impact!).
You can set up a monthly, quarterly, yearly, or one-time donation securely on our website. Thank you to everyone of you who supports this work financially and in countless other ways!
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Free Information Sessions at the FCCDC | |
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Grow Your Farm with Value-Added Food Products
We'll guide you through the food business roadmap!
Fourth Wednesdays at 11 a.m.
Upcoming virtual session is on February 28.
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Grow Your Business
For businesses of all types at any stage
First Wednesdays at 2 p.m.
Upcoming virtual session is on March 6.
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Financing Farms and Healthy Food Retail
Professional guidance on local food businesses
Second Wednesdays at 11 a.m.
Upcoming virtual session is on March 13.
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Starting a Food Product Business
Got a dream product? We can help!
Third Tuesdays at 10 a.m.
Upcoming virtual session is on February 20.
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Linguistic Bias
What's the harm?
Third Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Upcoming virtual session is on February 21.
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Franklin County CDC | 324 Wells Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 | 413-774-7204 | | | | |
