October 22, 1998Breaking Ground for Multi-Tenant Facility
Represents New Opportunity for Industry
GLOUCESTER – The Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership (MFP) praised the
Archdiocese of Boston and the Cape Ann Fisheries Development Association for
breaking ground and beginning construction of a new multi-tenant stalls
building on the Gloucester State Fish Pier.
"This project represents new opportunity for the fishing industry of Cape
Ann and all Massachusetts," David Bergeron, MFP Coordinator, said in a press
release issued at the event. "This new building will provide state-of-the-art
facilities for a number of small to medium companies and will greatly enhance
the ability of the Gloucester and Massachusetts fishing industry to compete
in a changing market," he said. It will also assist the Gloucester community
to preserve the working waterfront that has made Gloucester famous all over
the world as a fishing port for almost four centuries.
The MFP acknowledges the commitment of the Massachusetts Development
Finance Agency (MDFA) to the project and the fishing industry of the
Commonwealth. Without the hard work of the MDFA it is clear that this
important development for family owned businesses would not have occurred.
Bergeron said that this project represents the second major economic
contribution of the Archdiocese of Boston to the fishing community. Last year
the health care wing of the Archdiocese, Caritas Christi, partnered with the
MFP and Tufts Health Plan to establish the Fishing Partnership Health Plan (FPHP).
The new health plan just received an additional $1 million in federal funding
from Congress which will help increase the number of lives covered by the
plan beyond the 1300 people already covered. Last year the FPHP was awarded a
$2 million federal grant to launch the plan, and the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts committed $10 million over five years to support the health
plan.
# # #
|
