Code of Maine Rules › 19 - DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT › 499 - OFFICE OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT › Chapter 302 - RULES FOR THE MAINE MICROENTERPRISE INITIATIVE › Section 499-302-4 - PROGRAM REVIEW

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
A.
Department Responsibilities
By January 15 of each year, the Department shall submit a
				  report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction
				  over business research and economic development matters. The report must
				  include the following:
An accounting of the use of all program funds received
					 and expended since the program's inception;
										 A summary of the status of any approved
					 projects;
										 A summary of the results of any completed
					 projects;
										 Evaluation data and assessment; and
										 Other information required to be submitted to and
					 evaluated by the joint standing committee of the Legislature having
					 jurisdiction over business research and economic development
					 matters.
B.
Grantee Responsibilities
Community-based organizations receiving grants under this
				  program shall report to the Department no later than November 15 of each year.
				  In reporting to the Department, grant recipients must include the following
				  organizational performance and client outcome measures for their
				  programs:
An accounting of the use of all program funds received
					 and expended;
										 Total number of clients that received assistance
					 broken down by technical assistance versus training;
										 Business plan and/or training completion rate for all
					 clients;
										 Total number of clients that received ten (10) or more
					 hours of assistance;
										 Total number of women clients;
										 Total number of minority clients;
										 Total number of low-income clients (based on U.S.
					 Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines);
										 Total number of clients who were receiving Temporary
					 Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash support at the time of their intake
					 into the program;
										 Total number of clients served in targeted geographic
					 area;
										 Cost per assisted client;
										 Businesses and jobs created, expanded or retained by
					 clients;
										 Change in annual sales revenues of clients that
					 received assistance;
										 Microloans disbursed to clients and other capital
					 (i.e. debt or equity) acquired by clients.
Note: The above measures build upon similar measures employed
				  by MicroTest, a program developed and administered by the Aspen Institute.
				  MicroTest seeks to "improve the quality of microenterprise services and the
				  stability of microenterprise organizations over time by promoting the use of
				  common measures to regularly assess performance." In using MicroTest measures,
				  the department hopes to measure the performance of Maine microenterprise
				  programs against national benchmarks for similar programs.
Grant recipients under this program must also be prepared to
				  provide the department or its contractor with additional program data,
				  including client contact information, so that the department may conduct an
				  independent evaluation of the program.