PROVIDENCE – Mayflower Wind has agreed to a potential multimillion commitment to a new fund with the SouthCoast Community Foundation called The Mayflower Fund that will fund workforce and economic development in southeastern Massachusetts if the proposed offshore wind project comes to fruition, the two organizations announced Thursday.
If the project is approved, Mayflower Wind will contribute between $27 million and $47.5 million to the fund, based on the size of the contract awarded. The proposed offshore wind farm would be located in U.S. federal waters about 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
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The fund would support initiatives across the SouthCoast Community Foundation’s service area, including Greater New Bedford, Greater Fall River, southern Plymouth County, and in total 41 cities and towns across four counties of southeastern Massachusetts.
The organizations said that the fund would support initiatives to build inclusive, equitable, and diverse employment, training, and supply chain opportunities in the region
“The offshore wind industry has the potential to provide significant economic and environmental benefits to the people and businesses across the south coast,” said Michael Brown, CEO of Mayflower Wind. “But in order to truly succeed we need strong partnerships with organizations such as the SouthCoast Community Foundation, who truly understand the needs of the community, to ensure we are fostering a just transition toward a sustainable energy future.”
If created, the fund will have two areas of focus. The first includes workforce, education and training, and would allocate resources to local nonprofit educational institutions like community colleges and vocational and technical schools to create paid training, internship and apprenticeship programs to support wind-sector workforce development. The second will focus on the sector’s supply chain, working with municipalities, state officials and departments and the Mass. Supplier Diversity Office, as well as other stakeholders, to identify and fund nonprofit-based projects, programs and initiatives that will create employment and economic development opportunities in the region.
“From our initial discussion about the fund, it was clear that Mayflower Wind and the Community Foundation share a mutual, deep commitment to the south coast region. We are proud to be partnering with Mayflower Wind and excited about the profound and lasting impact their investment can mean across Southeastern Massachusetts,” said John Vasconcellos, president and CEO, of the SouthCoast Community Foundation. “We are particularly pleased about the ability to help build the local skill base needed to take full advantage of the jobs and opportunities the offshore wind industry will create.”
