Planning for Wraparound Services that Support the Growth of Maine’s Craft Beer Industry

PI: Terry Shehata, Economic Development Officer, University of Southern Maine

Collaborators:  Jake Ward & Renee Kelly, UM Office of Innovation and Economic Development, Sean Sullivan Executive Director of the Maine Brewers’ Guild; Luci Benedict USM Director of the Quality Collaboratory; Maggie Vishneau Senior Policy Associate for Research & Organizational Develop, USM Cutler Institute; Ross Hickey USM Asst Prov for Research Integrity; Ryan Wallace Director of the USM Center for Business and Economic Research; Sarah Goan USM Data Innovation Project; Andrew Crawley UMaine School of Economics; Jason Bolton UMaine Cooperative Extension.

USM and UMaine, in partnership with the Maine Brewers’ Guild, propose to undertake a 6-month planning effort to develop a comprehensive implementation plan for providing wraparound services that support the growth of the craft beer industry. The development of the implementation plan is necessary to help the industry address the challenges it is facing in anticipation of continuing growth in output and employment by 2020. The success of this planning effort could serve as a model for developing industry sector-based tailored services.