AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage said the U.S. Department of Commerce has awarded $200,000 to a program designed to create jobs in northern Maine.

The governor said in a statement Thursday that the Northern Maine Development Commission in Caribou received the grant for the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership program.

The governor’s office says IMCP is a federal program designed to help bring manufacturing jobs back to cities.

In Maine, the grant will be used to advance the manufacturing of biomass heating appliances in the northern part of the state with the aim of creating new jobs.