What you need to know

• The Expanded Gaming Act created the Community Mitigation Fund to help entities offset costs related to the construction and operation of a gaming establishment.
• The application period for the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund is now closed, and awards were voted upon by the Commission in a public meeting on July 18.
• The Community Mitigation Fund may be used to offset costs related to both Category 1 full casino facilities (MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor) and the state’s Category 2 slots-only facility (Plainridge Park Casino).

About the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund

Since its inception, the Commission has worked to help the Commonwealth realize the benefits of expanded gaming. These benefits include the thousands of expected jobs for Massachusetts residents in the areas of construction, hospitality and tourism, and the generation of millions of dollars in new revenue for the Commonwealth and its cities and towns. The Commission has also worked to help the Commonwealth avoid or minimize potential negative impacts associated with the arrival of expanded gaming. As part of the effort to help offset impacts that may result from the development and operation of gaming facilities in the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Legislature created the Community Mitigation Fund (“CMF”) as part of the Expanded Gaming Act.

The Commission looks forward to an ongoing dialogue with communities and other interested parties regarding the use of these funds in the future.

To read the full guidelines for the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund, click here.

For more information on the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund, click here.

2019 Community Mitigation Fund Awards

Transit Project of Regional Significance Grants

• Cities of Everett and Somerville: The grant will provide funding to fully design a connection from Draw 7 Park in Somerville across the MBTA tracks to the Assembly Square Orange Line Station head house. The MBTA head house expansion is part of a broader effort to connect pedestrians and bicyclists to a regional pathway network and to provide a way over the Mystic River from Everett, opening new transportation options to thousands of people.
  • Award: $400,000 | Application
• Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: The grant will provide funding to improve the utilization of the current Loop Service and to assist in the PVTA’s marketing and advertising efforts.
  • Award: $25,000 | Application

Specific Impact Grants

• City of Everett: The grant will provide funding for the Everett Police Department to pay the salaries of officers that were trained at Northern Essex Community College. These new officers will replace officers transferred to the Gaming Enforcement Unit.
  • Award: $182,088.90 | Application
• Hampden County Sheriff’s Department: The grant will provide funding for lease assistance for the Western Massachusetts Recovery & Wellness Center for FY2020. The center had to relocate after 29 years of operation at 26 Howard Street due to its placement within the physical footprint of MGM Springfield.
  • Award: $400,000 | Application
• Hampden County District Attorney’s Office: The grant will provide funding for personnel to mitigate the increase in caseloads as a result of MGM Springfield’s opening.
  • Award: $100,000 | Application
• City of Springfield Police Department: The grant will provide funding for specific equipment for the Springfield Police Department to address public safety needs relating to the opening of MGM Springfield. For example, Springfield requested funding for new radios that would enable the Springfield Police Department and the Gaming Enforcement Unit to more easily communicate with each other. Similarly, the City asked for equipment to assist with traffic and crowd control, such as cones, message boards, Invarion Rapid Plan traffic software licenses, etc.
  • Award: $228,457.68 | Application

Specific Impact Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Lynn 2019 Specific Impact Grant Application
• City of Springfield – Focus Springfield 2019 Specific Impact Grant Application

Transportation Planning Grants

• City of Boston: The grant will provide funding for a portion of the design cost to improve Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue. Boston noted that approximately 70% of the traffic generated by Encore Boston Harbor has been projected to go through Sullivan Square.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application
• City of Lynn: The grant will provide funding for a traffic analysis, functional design report and conceptual design development for the Route 107 corridor. Route 107 connects Revere, Everett and Boston to the south, along with Salem and Peabody to the north, with casino patrons and employees expected to use Route 107 to access the casino.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application
• City of Medford: The grant will provide funding to design a multi-use boardwalk under the Route 28 bridge. A completed boardwalk could provide Encore Boston Harbor employees and patrons safer access the casino’s shuttles from Station Landing to the facility without having to navigate Wellington Circle or cross Route 28 at grade on foot or by bicycle.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application
• Cities of Everett and Somerville: The grant will provide funding to advance the planning and design of the MBTA Silver Line bus rapid transit service from Chelsea through Everett along the MBTA Commuter Rail right-of-way to Sullivan Square and then to Somerville. An extension of the Silver Line with a stop at Encore Boston Harbor would provide significant regional transportation benefits and could also significantly help reduce traffic related to Encore Boston Harbor.
  • Award: $425,000 | Application
• City of Revere and Town of Saugus: The grant will provide funding to further advance the planning and design of improvements along the Route 1 project corridor. Environmental Impact Reports prepared for Encore Boston Harbor envisioned approximately 9% of the traffic would be using the Route 1 corridor to get to/from the casino.
  • Award: $425,000 | Application 

Transportation Planning Grant Applications Not Awarded

• Town of West Springfield 2019 Transportation Planning Grant Application

Workforce Development Pilot Program Grants

• Holyoke Community College: The grant will provide funding for the continuation of the Work Ready program, which will enroll up to 200 individuals in the gaming school through scholarships, up to 70 individuals in certificate training, 180 in English literacy for the workplace, and 100 individuals in Adult Basic Education classes in order to get them into the pipeline for skills training and job placement.
  • Award: $300,000 | Application
• MassHire MetroNorth Workforce Board: The grant will provide funding for a project whereby local residents are engaged and referred to services aimed at preparing them for career opportunities in the hospitality and gaming sector.
  • Award: $300,000 | Application

Workforce Development Pilot Program Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Boston 2019 Workforce Development Pilot Program Application – Boston Pipeline Initiative

Non-Transportation Planning Grants

• Cities of Chelsea and Everett: The grant will provide funding for the creation of a trilingual Enterprise Center at the Chelsea Campus of Bunker Hill Community College. The center will provide skills training and services to entrepreneurs, existing businesses, and workers, initially focusing on the hospitality sector. The initiative will create a pipeline of workers and businesses to support and provide services to the Encore Boston Harbor and its guests, and provide a skilled workforce to backfill open positions within the communities as workers are hired by the casino.
  • Award: $105,000 | Application
• Cities of Chicopee and Springfield: The grant will provide funding to help implement potential projects outlined in “Reinvesting the Gaming Economic Development Fund” and “Implementation Blueprint, An Economic Development Strategy for the Renaissance of a Great American Downtown: Springfield, MA”, with an emphasis on downtown Springfield development and a development program for the Westover Metropolitan Airport.
  • Award: $50,000 | Application
• City of Northampton: The grant will provide funding for continued marketing activities building upon the activities already funded by the MGC, which include an evaluation of the marketing campaign performance from 2019 and planning for 2020, campaign planning activities and monitoring and measuring the response and feedback posted on the “Northampton Live” web site.
  • Award: $29,000 | Application
• City of Revere: The grant will provide funding for a tourism video that will promote the City of Revere as a destination and also will feature Encore Boston Harbor as a nearby major attraction.
  • Award: $50,000 | Application
• Town of Saugus: The grant will provide funding for a tourism video that will promote the Town of Saugus as a destination and also will feature Encore Boston Harbor as a nearby major attraction.
  • Award: $50,000 | Application

Reserve Planning Grant

• Towns of Foxborough, Plainville and Wrentham: The grant will provide funding to hire a professional marketing consultant/firm to prepare a marketing, strategic and creative plan for the destination marketing of the Towns of Foxborough, Plainville, and Wrentham. The towns envision the regional approach benefitting Plainridge Park Casino by attracting more tourists, business travelers and visitors to the region, along with establishing the area as a destination for overnight stays.
  • Award: $75,000 | Application

Tribal Gaming Technical Assistance Grant

• Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District: The grant will provide funding for requests for studies to assist communities in geographic proximity to the potential Tribal Gaming facility in Taunton with regard to traffic capacity and operational impacts, should the construction of the Tribal Gaming facility move forward. This continuation of a prior year grant would require a separate Commission vote to proceed depending on the status of the proposed Tribal facility.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application

About the Funds

Transit Project(s) of Regional Significance Grant – New

The Commission will consider funding no more than one project that offers significant transit benefits in each Category 1 region and one project related to the Category 2 facility.  Any CMF assistance provided would only be for a percentage of the costs of any such project and that significant other federal, state, local and other funding would need to be available to pay for the costs of any such projects.

Reauthorization of the 2015/2016 One-time Reserves

Communities that received approval for 2015/2016 Reserves do not need to re-apply.  The 2015/2016 Reserve will automatically be preserved for use in 2019.  Funds may be used on a rolling basis when specific impacts are determined or the specific planning activity is determined.  Once known, communities should contact the Ombudsman’s Office, which will assist the community in providing the needed information.

Specific Impact Grants

The 2019 Community Mitigation Fund for mitigation of specific impacts may be used only to mitigate impacts that either have occurred or are occurring as of the February 1, 2019 application date and any police training costs in Region A.  In recognition that the Category 2 gaming facility in Plainville opened during calendar year 2015, and MGM Springfield opened earlier this year, the Commission will make available funding to mitigate construction or operational related impacts that are being experienced or were experienced from those facilities by the February 1, 2019 date.

The Commission has determined that the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund is available only to mitigate impacts related to the construction and police training costs of the Category 1 gaming facilities in Region A.  The Commission has placed a per grant limit for the 2019 Specific Impact Grant awards of $500,000.

2019 Transportation Planning Grant

The 2019 Community Mitigation Fund program also authorizes communities to apply for a Transportation Planning Grant.  The communities that are eligible for a 2019 Transportation Planning Grant are those communities in Regions A & B and for the Category 2 facility, including each Category 1 and Category 2 host community, each designated surrounding community, each community which entered into a nearby community agreement with a licensee, any community that petitioned to be a surrounding community to a gaming licensee, and each community that is geographically adjacent to a host community in Regions A & B and to the Category 2 facility.  The Commission approved a target of $1,000,000 for the total allocation for 2019 Transportation Planning Grants with no more than $200,000 per grant authorized (plus potentially a regional incentive)

Incentive for Regional Cooperation

Last year the Commission initiated the establishment of incentive funding (beyond the baseline amounts stated in the Guidelines) for applications involving more than one community.  These joint applications must specifically show the interrelationship of the communities in their endeavor.

Workforce Development Pilot Program in Region A and Region B

The Commission will also make available funding for certain career pathways workforce development pilot programs (Workforce Development Pilot Program Grant) in Regions A and B for service to residents of communities of such Regions, including each Category 1 host community and each designated surrounding community, each community which entered into a nearby community agreement with a licensee, any community that petitioned to be a surrounding community to a gaming licensee, and each community that is geographically adjacent to a host community.

Non-Transportation Planning Grant

The Commission shall make available funding for certain planning and technical assistance activities through Non-Transportation Planning grants.  These planning funds will be available only to those communities that have allocated their One-time Reserve and received Commission approval for the use of the Reserves.  Any community applying for planning funds would also need to provide detail on what it will contribute to the planning projects such as in-kind services or planning funds.

Tribal Gaming Technical Assistance Grant

Additionally, the Commission shall make available technical assistance funding to assist in the determination of potential impacts that may be experienced by communities in geographic proximity to the potential Tribal Gaming facility in Taunton.  Such funding will only be made available, after approval of any application by the Southeast Regional Planning & Economic Development District or a comparable regional entity, if it is determined by the Commission that construction of such gaming facility will likely commence prior to or during Fiscal Year 2020.

2019 Community Mitigation Fund Guidelines and Instructions

The application period for the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund is now closed. Pursuant to the Expanded Gaming Act, applications for funds are annually due in the beginning of February [February 1, 2019].

• Acting Chairwoman Cameron’s 2019 Mitigation Fund Explanation Letter
• Appendix A – 2019 Cmmunity Mitigation Fund Guidelines
• Appendix B – Instructions for Filing Grant Applications

The following application forms are meant for reference only. Applications must be submitted via COMMBUYS per the below instructions.

• Appendix C – Specific Impact Grant Application
• Appendix D – Transportation Planning Grant Application
• Appendix E – Workforce Development Pilot Program Grant Application
• Appendix F – Non-Transportation Planning Grant Application
• Appendix G – Reserve Planning Grant – Tribal Gaming Technical Assistance Application
• Appendix H – Transit Project(s) of Regional Significance Application

Further detail on this year’s program may be found in the Guidelines or by contacting Joe Delaney. Mr. Delaney can be reached at joseph.e.delaney@state.ma.us. The Commission’s address is 101 Federal Street, 12th Floor, Boston, MA 02110.