LYNN — The Brickyard Collaborative, a Lynn makerspace, was surprised to receive a $100,000 grant from the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC), which aims to help small businesses cope with the technical issues of COVID-19.
“They were supposed to announce them at the end of August and I didn’t hear, so I’d just forgotten about it,” said Ted Dillard, executive director and janitor of the Brickyard Collaborative. “Then mid-December they told us. I’m excited. It’s going to allow us to do quite a lot of cool stuff for Lynn.”
The MGCC’s Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program is intended to provide “technical assistance and training grants to small businesses located in Gateway cities, and other under-resourced and low- (to) moderate-income communities in Massachusetts,” with a particular focus “on under-resourced and low- (to) moderate-income businesses and entrepreneurs.”
The collaborative is already using the grant for several projects: making posters and graphics, signage, data collection, software upgrades and workforce-management solutions.
Dillard cited several examples of services they have provided to small businesses, including providing electronic occupancy counters and personal protective equipment materials, as well as helping businesses navigate the grant process. The makerspace is currently reaching out to local businesses to help develop solutions collaboratively.
“We’re still figuring it all out, the details and the specifics,” said Dillard. “But we’re offering support as needed.”
The program must be completed by June, according to the conditions of the grant, so the collaborative is “hustling to make up for lost time,” according to a collaborative’s release.
The Brickyard will continue to serve its function as a makerspace, which includes providing a wood shop, metal shop, rapid prototyping, digital imaging, 3-D printing and more.
Members join “much like they would for a health club,” said Dillard, and membership grants access to the machines at the 71 Linden St. space and to staff who are able to provide training.
“One of the things that a makerspace does is provide a venue for start-up businesses and entrepreneurs,” said Dillard. “So this (grant work) is right in line with our main mission.”
The Brickyard has been working with several community partners, including the Creative Collective and the Lynn Education District.
“We’re leaning on them to help us help businesses to utilize those tools better,” said Dillard.
At the onset of the pandemic, the Brickyard also worked on producing PPE for the city, delivering more than 4,000 units to the city’s emergency operations center, according to Brickyard’s website.
In total, the group delivered 3,300 masks, 254 shields, 62 gowns, 325 bottles of hand sanitizer and three portable hand-wash stations, the website said.
Local businesses hoping to collaborate with the Brickyard can email [email protected].
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
