SANFORD — Memo to young professionals, entrepreneurs and creative types: Get your synergy going, and by the way, do so here.

There’s a new energy coursing through Maine’s newest city these days ”“ a new enthusiasm. It’s young-ish and thoughtful and idea-boosting, and ready to help bring the community forward.

It is Synergize Sanford, “a professional business forum intended to nurture entrepreneurs, provide professional guidance and offer a road map to advance business ideas from concept to reality.”

“It’s as much a movement as anything else,” said Tom Cote, who took up the reins as Sanford’s new mayor, the first elected mayor, Jan. 1. “It’s a forum, a voice for business-minded folks and young professionals that provides a connection to resources and others doing the same thing.”

Synergize Sanford is a network, a venue for those with a common bond to get together, talk about their ideas and set about to put them in motion. It’s launching at 4 p.m. March 21 at Mill 67, a new restaurant in the newly renovated Sanford Mill on Washington Street. The launch party will feature Don Gooding, executive director of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, who will talk about innovation in Maine and making connections in an increasingly virtual world, Cote said.

What Cote said he learned during the mayoral campaign last fall is that there are a lot more entrepreneurs and young professionals living in Sanford than one would suspect at first glance. Some work here, but others work in Portland, Biddeford or Portsmouth, N.H., and come home to Sanford at night. Synergize Sanford brings them together.

“People feel really passionate about the community and want it to succeed,” said Cote.

With Synergize Sanford, he and others plan to engage the next generation of leadership.

Make no mistake, Synergize Sanford is about economic development. Sometimes development and commerce happen traditionally, and sometimes informally, like what happened when a local farmer sat next to the owner of a restaurant at a recent meeting and got talking ”“ and forged a business deal.

Jim Nimon, of Sanford Regional Economic Growth Council, and Rick Stanley of Sanford Springvale Chamber of Commerce are providing guidance and support.

Synergize Sanford member Jim Paquette, a restaurateur who owns Back Street Grill and is about to open Mill 67, said Sanford needs to focus on the positive, and he’d like to see more marketing of the community. He’s ready to move on that now, tying the renovation of the mills to Sanford’s historic walks and other positive features in the city.

“If you market your city, it will shine a light on it,” he said.

Member Reegan Brown likens Synergize Sanford to another group, 300 miles away. She was a member of Momentum Aroostook before moving to southern Maine 10 months ago.

“We wanted an energy and a buzz that comes with youth,” said Brown of the Aroostook County group.

Brown, a health promotion coordinator, said she’s not interested in starting a business now, though she may someday. But she wants to meet other professionals like herself, and is happy to be involved in the community, like she was up north, where she and others established a children’s triathlon.

“When you put a lot of people in a room, there are resources there,” she said. “I want to see motivated people and people my age. They’re here, and I want to meet them.”

Synergized? Go to www.synergizesanford.com for more information.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.