Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I N O. X X V O C T O B E R 1 9 , 2 0 2 0 6 B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state COVID's impact on hospitality: $1.7 billion Maine's hospitality industry was expected to take a big hit from COVID-19, and a new report has estimated the impact. Industry revenues are projected to be $1.7 billion less as a result of the pandemic, with a loss of 28,000 direct and multi- plier jobs. e losses come after 12 years of steady growth in hospitality, Maine's second-largest industry after health care. Between January and July, Maine hos- pitality businesses generated $1.5 billion in taxable sales, a 34% drop from the $2.3 billion in the first seven months of 2019, according to an analysis by econom- ics professors Todd Gabe and Andrew Crawley of the University of Maine and commissioned by HospitalityMaine. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $800,000 to the Maine State Department of Health and Human Services to support mental health and substance use programs throughout the state. The department also re- ceived $727,991 in CARES Act funding to support the distribution of any future COVID-19 vaccines and announced that it will invest nearly $1 million from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund to support free expert consultation for congregate care settings, including but not limited to group homes, assisted living facilities, adult family care homes, memory care homes and private non- medical institutions. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention received a $200,000 grant through the Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act to expand support services for people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a total of $2.3 mil- lion to the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services to purchase personal protective equip- ment, medical supplies and equipment for essential workers to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Alfond gifts a 'transformative, unprecedented investment' in Maine's future B y W i l l i a m H a l l O R O N O — The Harold Alfond Foundation's pledge of $500 million for Maine institutions may have its biggest impact on the University of Maine System. Maine's six-university system will receive $240 million from the foundation over 12 years, and plans to use the money to fund a new engineering college, a graduate facility, schol- arships, athletics and more, according to a news release. The grant is the largest ever to a public institute of higher education in New England and the eighth-largest to a U.S. public institute. Founded in 1950, the Harold Alfond Foundation is named for the founder of Dexter Shoe Co. Its gifts are committed to three areas: education, health care and youth and community development. The foundation has assets of over $800 mil- lion and in 2019 awarded $47.1 million to 55 organizations, with 89% of the funds going to Maine recipients. But the foundation's latest round of gifts, pledging half a billion dollars over 12 years, certainly reinforces its com- mitment to the three areas of focus. In addition to the UMaine System, gift recipients include Northeastern University's Portland-based Roux Institute, the University of New England, Thomas College, FocusMaine, Colby College, Waterville Creates! and the Jackson Laboratory. Ranging from $5.18 million for FocusMaine to the UMaine System gift, the grants in total are believed to be one of largest philanthropic gifts in Maine history. Foundation Chairman Greg Powell said in a news release, "Our state faces unprecedented challenges. In the face of these challenges, we still see a bright, prosperous future for the people of Maine. [These] grants are to vital, high- performing Maine institutions who will help build that future." UMaine System plans In its news release, UMS said it plans to divvy up its founda- tion grant among the following allocations: $55 million for the Maine Graduate and Profes- sional Center, support- ing scholarships and program development across business, law, public policy and gradu- ate engineering; and a state-of-the-art building on the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus to house the Maine Center programs and Maine Law; $75 million for a multi-university Maine College of Engi- neering, Computing and Information Science to be coop- eratively led by the University of Maine, providing additional undergraduate engineering programs at the University of Southern Maine, UMaine graduate engineering programs in Portland, and other expanded offerings; $20 million for student success and retention — funding for three programs to be piloted at UMaine and expanded across the UMaine System that include research learning opportunities for first- and second-year undergraduate students and a pathways-to-careers program; and $90 million for athletic facilities at the UMaine, providing support to maintain excellence in the state's only Divi- sion I athletics program, to advance gender equity, and to provide a preferred destination for high school sports championships, large academic fairs and competitions, and community events. The UMaine System will also leverage the foundation's gift to secure an additional $170 million in matching funds over the next 10 years from private, state and federal sources, resulting in $410 million of new funding. Chancellor Dannel Malloy called the gifts a "transformative, unprecedented investment in [Maine's] people and its future." The grants are to vital, high- performing Maine institutions. — Greg Powell Harold Alfond Foundation B R I E F S T A T E W I D E 1 Per Business Insider, as of 2016, this was the largest-ever gift to a public flagship university in U.S. history. 2 Added for placement. Gift announced after 7/1/20 publication date of Chronicle analysis. 3 Gift in kind (map collection) plus endowment cash. S O U R C E : Chronicle for Higher Education TOP GRANTS TO PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Year Pubilc Institution Donor Gift size (millions) 1 2018 University of California San Francisco Helen Diller, widow of real estate billionaire Sanford Diller $500 2 2016 Oregon University 1 Phil Knight, co-founder $500 3 2015 Oregon Health & Science University Phil Night, co-founder of Nike $500 4 2002 University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation $300 5 2017 University of Washington Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation $279 6 2020 University of California Berkeley Anonymous donor $252 7 2001 University of Colorado System William T. Coleman III and Claudia Coleman $250 8 2020 University of Maine System 2 Harold Alfond Foundation $240 9 2002 University of Texas at Austin John A. Jackson (bequest) $232 10 2017 University of Maryland at College Park A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation $219 39 2018 University of Southern Maine 3 Bernard Osher Foundation $100

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