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 2020 Community Mitigation Fund is now closed, as applications were due by January 31, 2020. 
• Awards were voted upon by the Commission in a public meeting on June 25, 2020, and can be found here.
• The Community Mitigation Fund may be used to compensate for 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 2020 Community Mitigation Fund

The Massachusetts Legislature legalized casino gaming to produce broad-based economic development, including jobs and revenue.  To date, gaming tax revenue has exceeded $500 million, and the industry has created more than 12,000 construction jobs and thousands of operational jobs.  The Legislature also established an equally important mandate to mitigate unintended impacts associated with the arrival of casino gaming.  To that end, the law created the Community Mitigation Fund to support communities and governmental entities in offsetting costs related to the construction and operation of gaming facilities.

Since 2015, the MGC has issued approximately $23 million in funding to advance needs in transportation, non-transportation planning, workforce development and public safety for municipalities and government entities located in the vicinity of the casinos.

2020 Community Mitigation Fund Awards

Specific Impact Grants

• City of Chelsea: This grant will fund a portion of the comprehensive reconstruction of Beacham and Williams Streets, from Spruce Street to the City’s boundary with Everett. This project consists of roadway and utility reconstruction, intersection upgrades, and the installation of pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
  • Award: $500,000 | Application
• City of Everett Fire Department: This grant will provide funding to supplement the additional personnel and operational costs incurred as a result of Encore Boston Harbor’s operations.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application
• City of Everett Police Department: This grant will provide funding to supplement the additional personnel and operational costs incurred as a result of Encore Boston Harbor’s operations.
  • Award: $184,000 | Application
• Town of Foxborough: This funding will enable Foxborough to acquire a full-size pickup truck and assorted traffic safety equipment (cones/barrier/signs) and assist local communities via mutual aid.
  • Award: $83,000 | Application
• Hampden County Sheriff’s Department: The grant will provide funding for lease assistance for the Western Massachusetts Recovery & Wellness Center for FY2021. The center moved 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: $75,000 | Application
• City of Springfield – Implementation Blueprint Priority Initiatives Advancement: Building on initial efforts from 2019, this project will focus on advancing the most critical and pressing catalytic economic development initiatives in downtown.
  • Award: $250,000 | Application
• City of Springfield – Parking Authority City Stage: This grant will provide funds to perform significant capital improvements and system upgrades to the City Stage Unit located in downtown Springfield.
  • Award: $300,000 | Application
• City of Springfield Police Department: This grant will provide funding for specific equipment for the Springfield Police Department to address public safety needs relating to the opening of MGM Springfield.
  • Award: $110,000 | Application
• City of Springfield – Parking Authority Revenue Recovery: This grant will provide funding to conduct updated parking demand feasibility studies downtown, in furtherance of solutions that may reestablish sources of revenue for the Parking Authority, and more effectively locate shared, convenient and proximate parking in areas of high demand, while freeing up open land for critical redevelopment.
  • Award: $100,000 | Application
• Town of West Springfield Police, Fire and EMS: This grant will provide funding for additional Police and Fire/EMS personnel to address the increased demand for municipal services resulting from the opening of MGM Springfield.
  • Award: $200,000 | Application

Specific Impact Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Everett – Data Driven Strategies 2020 Specific Impact Grant Application
• City of Malden Fire Department 2020 Specific Impact Grant Application
• City of Springfield Fire Department 2020 Specific Impact Grant Application

Transportation Planning Grants

• City of Boston: This grant will provide funding for a portion of the design cost of improvement to Sullivan Square and Rutherford Avenue. The City of 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: This grant will provide funding for a traffic analysis, functional design report and conceptual design development for the Route 107 corridor.
  • Award: $100,000 | Application
• City of Malden: This grant will be used to develop a Transit Action Plan for the City of Malden.
  • Award: $150,000 | Application

Transportation Planning Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Everett – Broadway Gondola Feasibility Study 2020 Transportation Planning Application
• City of Everett – Silver Line Extension Planning and Design 2020 Transportation Planning Application
• Town of Saugus and City of Revere 2020 Transportation Planning Application
• Town of West Springfield 2020 Transportation Planning Application

Workforce Development Pilot Program Grants

• Holyoke Community College: This grant will provide funding for a workforce development system, which provides Adult Education, work readiness, and occupational skills training to connect the un/underemployed to opportunities.
  • Award: $199,000 | Application
• MassHire MetroNorth Workforce Board: This grant is a regional project aimed at addressing the workforce needs of the hospitality sector impacted by Encore Boston Harbor. A consortium of partners will provide career and employment services, ESOL and occupational skills training to prepare local residents for high quality hospitality careers.
  • Award: $172,000 | Application

Non-Transportation Planning Grants

• City of Everett: This grant will fund a planning initiative to look at the large industrial district that straddles the Everett/Chelsea line in order to understand the impact of the district on the local and regional economy, especially as it relates to the abutting Entertainment District.
  • Award: $100,000 | Application
• City of Medford: This grant will enable Medford to contract consultant services to create and launch a program to assist businesses to access funds and benefits designated through the Surrounding Community Agreement for the benefit of Medford businesses.
  • Award: $100,000 | Application
• City of Northampton: This grant will provide funding to continue the “northampton.live” marketing web platform which is the City’s first marketing program.
  • Award: $50,000 | Application

Non-Transportation Planning Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Revere 2020 Non-Transportation Planning Project Application
• Town of Saugus 2020 Non-Transportation Planning Project Application
• Town of West Springfield 2020 Non-Transportation Planning Project Application

Reserve Planning Grant – Tribal Gaming Technical Assistance Applications

These funds carried over from the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund awards and do not count towards the 2020 total.

• Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development: 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

Transportation Construction Project(s) Grants

• City of Boston: This grant will be used to create safer crossings and better line of sight for turning vehicles, as well as a fiber connection from Sullivan Square to the Park Street intersection.
  • Award: $295,000 | Application
• City of Chelsea: This grant will fund a portion of the comprehensive reconstruction of Beacham and Williams Streets, from Spruce Street to the City’s boundary with Everett. This project consists of roadway and utility reconstruction, intersection upgrades, and the installation of pedestrian and bicycle facilities.
  • Award: $1,000,000 | Application
• City of Everett: This grant will partially fund an extension of the Northern Strand Community Trail to the Mystic River.
  • Award: $375,000 | Application
• City of Medford: This grant will construct the last phase of the Wellington Greenway, a 0.3-mile path that will connect local residents/employees to the Encore Resort via waterfront paths along the Mystic and Malden Rivers.
  • Award: $530,000 | Application
• Town of West Springfield: This grant will provide funding to enable Complete Street Transportation Improvements to the Park Avenue and Park Street (Route 20) corridors from the Elm Street/Union Street intersection to the North End Rotary.
  • Award: $1,000,000 | Application

Transportation Construction Project(s) Grant Applications Not Awarded

• City of Lynn 2020 Transportation Construction Project Application
• City of Revere and Town of Saugus 2020 Transportation Construction Project Application

About the Funds

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 2020.  As described in the Guidelines, this Reserve may be used for impacts once they are determined (upon approval of the MGC).  The Reserve may be used to help communities plan how to avoid potential adverse impacts and how to best take advantage of the economic opportunities that may result from such facilities.  This Reserve will be disbursed by the MGC on a rolling basis after communities have time to determine, in consultation with the MGC, how best these funds should be used.  Communities can still apply for funds for specific impacts now and in future Community Mitigation funding rounds.  Communities may continue to access whatever portion of their original $100,000 Reserve amounts that remain unexpended.

Specific Impact Grants

The 2020 Community Mitigation Fund for mitigation of specific impacts may be used only to mitigate impacts that either has occurred or are occurring as of the February 1, 2020 application date.  In recognition that the Category 2 gaming facility in Plainville opened during the calendar year 2015, and MGM Springfield opened in 2018 and Encore Boston Harbor opened mid-2019, the MGC will make available funding to mitigate operational related impacts that are being experienced or were experienced from those facilities by the February 1, 2020 date.  The MGC has placed a per grant limit for the 2020 Specific Impact Awards of $500,000, subject to the request for waiver.

Incentive for Regional Cooperation

Last year, the MGC 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.

Transportation Planning Grant

The 2020 Community Mitigation Fund program also authorizes communities to apply for a Transportation Planning Grant.  The communities that are eligible for a 2020 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 MGC approved a target of $1,000,000 for the total allocation for 2020 Transportation Planning Grants with no more than $200,000 per grant authorized (plus potentially a regional incentive).

Workforce Development Programs in Region A and Region B – Regional Incentive

The MGC will make available funding for certain career pathways workforce development pilot programs 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.  In an effort to promote administrative efficiencies and greater regional cooperation, applicants that demonstrate cooperation of a significant number of workforce agencies in each region may be eligible for $50,000 in additional funding.  The Commission may also authorize an award of up to $100,000.00 for significant regional needs.

Non-Transportation Planning – Increase in Funding

The MGC shall make available funding for certain planning and technical assistance activities through Non-Transportation Planning Grants.  For 2020 the MGC increased the available funding from $50,000 to $100,000.  No application for this 2020 Non-Transportation Planning Grant shall exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000).  In the event that a Non-Transportation Planning Grant involves more than one community for the same planning project, applicants would be eligible for a Regional Planning Incentive Award.  Additional funding may be requested only for the costs of a joint project being proposed by more than one community, not similar projects. These planning funds will be available only to those communities that have allocated their One-time Reserve and received MGC 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

Additionally, the MGC 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 MGC that construction of such a gaming facility will likely commence prior to or during Fiscal Year 2021.

Transportation Construction Project(s) Grant – New

The MGC will consider funding for the cost of the construction of transportation projects in the 2020 CMF.  The MGC intends that any CMF assistance provided will only be for a percentage of the costs of any such project and that significant other federal, state, local, private or other funding will be available to pay for the costs of any such project.  The MGC anticipates authorizing no more than $3,000,000 statewide and does not anticipate authorizing more than $1,000,000 for any one award. Although the Commission has a $3,000,000 award target for this category of grants, the Commission has retained the ability in the Guidelines to increase this award amount and other award amounts.

2020 Community Mitigation Fund Guidelines and Instructions

The application period for the 2020 Community Mitigation Fund is now open, and applications are due by January 31, 2020.

• Chair Cathy Judd-Stein’s 2020 Community Mitigation Fund Letter
• Appendix A – 2020 Community Mitigation Fund Guidelines
• Appendix B – Instructions for Filing Grants

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

• Appendix C – Specific Mitigation 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 – Transportation Construction Projects Grant 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.delaney@massgaming.gov. The Commission’s address is 101 Federal Street, 12th Floor, Boston, MA 02110.