FrostburgFirst is starting the new fiscal year with a bang! In just the past few weeks, FrostburgFirst has been awarded $295,000 in grant funds to support specific economic revitalization projects in downtown Frostburg over the next year.
The Main Street Improvement Grant Program (provided by Maryland Department of Housing & Community Development) awards operating assistance to local governments or economic development organizations in Maryland’s designated and affiliated Main Street Maryland communities and Baltimore City’s designated Main Street neighborhoods. These grants provide organizations like FrostburgFirst with limited operational funding and funding for specific projects to help awardees achieve community revitalization and economic development goals, including creating and retaining small businesses and increasing tourism for local events and attractions. FrostburgFirst was awarded $25,000 to assist with some operational expenses and to strengthen the organization’s capacity for directly engaging in economic development opportunities through collaborative projects.
Project Restore 2.0 (provided by Maryland DHCD) activates vacant buildings, supports small businesses, and increases local economic activity by providing financial support to improve the vitality of Maryland’s commercial corridors. Unlike prior rounds of the program, which directly funded businesses, funds were awarded as block grants to place-based economic development organizations like FrostburgFirst across the state to tackle targeted properties in need of renovation and ensure they are activated with sustainable businesses within a year. FrostburgFirst’s Project Restore 2.0 grant will build on the foundation established in previous rounds of Project Restore to activate vacant storefronts and engage local entrepreneurs who successfully completed the Pop-Up Frostburg program. FrostburgFirst was awarded $240,000 to assist property owners to rehabilitate a historic building to provide an attractive, modern space for a clothing boutique and renovate another property for a gym and fitness center on Main Street.
The USDA Rural Development Rural Business Development Grant promotes economic development and job creation projects in rural areas or towns outside the urbanized periphery of any city with a population of 50,000 or more. FrostburgFirst was awarded $30,000 to engage economic development planning technical assistance services. This technical assistance will include a Main Street revitalization roadmap report that identifies action items for downtown economic revitalization, identifies strategies for holistic economic development, improves quality of life, engages stakeholders (e.g., business and property owners), and engages the public on their vision and values. FrostburgFirst will also receive technical assistance through a strategic marketing and communications program (Locable) to support economic development. The result is that each participant will have solid marketing infrastructure and first-hand experience implementing things like creating and distributing content, crafting email newsletters, cross-promoting, promoting job openings and volunteer opportunities, celebrating local successes to build the community’s portfolio, and more.
FrostburgFirst has been extremely fortunate in its grant awards so far, making the 2025 Fiscal Year the highest annual grant total for the organization to date. We are excited to dive into these projects and look forward to sharing the details and progress as the year continues. All of these projects contribute to the FrostburgFirst mission to develop and foster a prosperous, vibrant, sustainable, and resilient designated Frostburg Main Street Community.
While grant awards like these are essential to making new projects and programs happen, they do not provide FrostburgFirst with significant assistance in managing operating expenses, so ongoing support from our local business community, artist community, and the Frostburg community as a whole is essential to continuing the work that we do. Please visit www.downtownfrostburg.