Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. X X V N OV E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 5 6 SBA loans in Maine increased by 22% in FY2015 e number of loans provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration in Maine grew by 22% in the most recent fi scal year over 2014. e federal agency said Oct. 28 that the number of SBA loans in Maine totaled 539 in fi scal year 2015 com- pared to 441 in FY2014. e total dollar amount also increased from $103.3 million in 2014 to $109.6 mil- lion in 2015. e highest number of loans were made to retail com- panies and lodging or food service companies, with 80 and 79 loans in FY15, respectively. e next highest industries were construction, manu- facturing and health care, the SBA said. e total number of SBA loans in Maine has increased every year since 2012, with 358 total loans in 2012 and 422 loans in 2013. e total dol- lar amount of SBA loans in Maine increased by 6% over FY14. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $999,120 to the Univer- sity of Maine in Orono through the department's Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative and $709,713 to the Maine Organ- ic Farmers and Gardeners Associa- tion in Unity through the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program to support producers of organic agricultural products throughout the state of Maine and the Northeast. The People's United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People's United Bank in Portland, awarded a total of $19,000 in grants to Camp Sunshine, Habitat for Humanity of York County, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program and Service Corps of Retired Executives Association. Flowfold raises $200,000 in equity nancing for expansion Flowfold, a Peaks Island-based com- pany known for wallets made from high-performance sail material, plans to increase its product off erings and retail accounts with $200,000 in recent equity fi nancing. e investment, along with winning the $30,000 prize at Gorham Savings Bank's LaunchPad Competition this summer, will help the company broaden its brand beyond wallets, co-founder Devin McNeill told Mainebiz. e cash raised allows Flowfold to introduce a half-dozen products this year and next, McNeill said. e company recently began sell- ing a zippered tote bag on its site and plans to release duffl e bags, backpacks, accessory packs and other carry-related products. In addition to its Peaks Island headquarters, the company has an offi ce in Scarborough and fi ve full-time employees. It sells to a few hundred retailers around the country. In the next three years, the company could add between fi ve and 10 new employees, McNeill said. He declined to provide revenue fi gures but said the company has been producing about 40,000 units a year. B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E S O U T H E R N NASA commits $6.5M to Gulf of Maine Research Institute for climate change education The Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland is receiving a $6.5 mil- lion grant from NASA to create a new educational program focused on sci- ence knowledge and problem-solving related to climate change. The grant will allow the nonprofi t organization to upgrade the technical infra- structure at its Sam L. Cohen Center for Interactive Learning in Portland to deliver the new educational content to the 10,000 Maine 5th and 6th graders who visit each year, GMRI said Oct. 21. The organization will also making the educational programing web-accessible to visitors in other science centers and classrooms in Maine and nationwide. Through customization of the new content from GMRI's educational program, LabVenture!, the programming will allow students to investigate how climate change is affecting their local region and the rest of the world. The fi ve-year grant will be shared with national science education partners. Work at GMRI will begin immediately, and new programming content is expected to be available for the 2018-19 school year. Leigh Peake, GMRI's chief education offi cer, said in a statement that the NASA grant gives it a new direction for the education program in terms of con- tent and national reach. The organization's research lab and interactive learning center opened in 2005. Maine's U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King applauded the education funding for the organization. "Educating our state's future leaders on the environmental and economic impacts of warming waters and sea level rise is important for the future of our state," said Collins, a Republican. "This investment will support innovative edu- cational opportunities for Maine's students and community engagement efforts by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute." King, an independent, said collaboration with NASA is another example of GMRI scientists' and educators' forward-thinking leadership. "GMRI's work to equip students and teachers with interactive science and tech- nology will help inspire the next generation of scientists and, ultimately, advance our knowledge of climate change. With the changes we're seeing in the Gulf of Maine and around the globe, this mission has never been more important," King said. A 2014 study by the research institute, which looks for solutions to chal- lenges related to ocean stewardship and economic growth in the Gulf of Maine, found that the Gulf of Maine's waters are warming up faster than than 99% of the world's other large bodies of saltwater. — P A U L K O E N I G P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y G U L F O F M A I N E R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E Gulf of Maine Research Institute is based on Commercial Street in Portland.

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