Category Archives: Articles

New Mexico MEP Helps Company Go Lean

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Largo Tank received assistance from NM MEP

In 2014, Adam Wagoner attended a Lean 101 workshop conducted by Denise Williams, Northwest Region Innovation Director for New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), when it hit him that lean strategies would be a good fit for Largo Tank’s longstanding company culture of promoting from within and encouraging professional development among workers.

Wagoner is an owner and vice president of Largo Tank and Equipment, a three-location manufacturing and service facility for truck-mounted equipment, fire equipment, truck tanks, and tank trailers in the Four Corners region.

Largo’s focus is welding and mechanical service work on all types of semi-trailers, tankers, and truck-mounted equipment. The company holds an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) U-stamp for pressure vessel manufacturing and an R-stamp for pressure vessel repairs.

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Nonprofits in Need: Borrowing Can Be Tool for Financial Stability

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The Loan Fund at St. Elizabeth Shelter
The Loan Fund at St. Elizabeth Shelter

A nonprofit isn’t in business to enrich its shareholders, but it still needs revenues and incurs operating expenses while pursuing its community service mission. It, too, can experience cash flow problems or require considerable cash to fund a capital project or expanded services.

When that happens, the nonprofit faces many of the same choices a for-profit business does, though it draws from different funding sources.

While a for-profit business can offer investors a chance to share in the company’s fortunes by buying stocks, for example, a nonprofit relies on stakeholders who are motivated by public interest rather than self-interest.

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Small Business Loan is Most Recent Help for Gallup Family Business

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Robert Slover leaned on the WESST Farmington Women’s Business Center for extensive one-on-one consultation sessions in the early days of his cell phone repair business. Cell Phone Doctor sells new and factory-refurbished phones, including iPhone, Samsung, LG, Motorola, and Android, and it services all brands of cell phones and tablets. The business also sells PlayStation and Xbox gaming systems and can network unlock phones. When the Gallup business was ready to expand, Stover turned to WESST again, this time for a small business loan.

Slover’s relationship with WESST initially focused on cash flow and financial planning. Soon after, Slover worked with consultant and trainer Holly Patterson to understand how to use digital marketing tools to improve his social media postings. Help with marketing strategies aimed at growing his target markets was next.

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LiftFund Supports Women-Owned Businesses

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Women entrepreneurs often start businesses to provide a future for their children.

The number of women-owned businesses has increased exponentially in the last 20 years, and many of them have been helped by small business loans and training that supports the unique needs of women. Aleia Shipman’s story is a great example of the passionate women who gain assistance and loans from lenders such as LiftFund and other nonprofit Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to start businesses and provide for their families.

In 2016, Shipman knew she needed to make a change, not only for herself but for her three children. She had been working in sales at a chemical company for 10 years helping the owner grow the business despite the resistance to her creative ideas and solutions. Shipman turned her frustration into opportunity and decided to branch out on her own. That’s when she founded 3G Chemical Solutions, LLC.

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The Loan Fund Helps Fund Building Purchase

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Brandy Castillo, MS, MSW, LCSW-S, created her behavioral health company in 2013 when she was starting a family and looking for a way to build a home-based practice. Clients were seen at her home on an old farm just outside of the City of Belen in Valencia County, New Mexico.

In 2018, the business name was officially changed to Hearth & Soul of New Mexico when Brandy’s husband Ignacio became co-owner and billing manager after retiring from the New Mexico Department of Corrections.

The business, which is rooted in compassion, expanded to offer services in Mesilla and Albuquerque. Heart & Soul aims to foster a supportive environment that encourages growth, self-discovery, and the realization of one’s fullest potential. Its 35 healthcare providers and staff specialize in a wide range of behavioral health services, including therapy and psychiatry to treat depression, anxiety, substance use, trauma, and more. It does this through individual and group therapy, psychiatry, and enhanced case management.

In January 2024, Brandy went to The Loan Fund for financial help to purchase a building in downtown Belen, where she could serve more clients from a central location.

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RCAC Bolsters Canjilon’s Push for Water Security

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The small Rio Arriba County village of Canjilon is a living testament to the deep-rooted heritage of its community. Home to nearly 300 residents, Canjilon’s roots stretch thousands of years, during which the Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo peoples have called the surrounding lands home.

Water scarcity has always been a defining challenge in high desert communities, with sparse population density and modest financial resources compounding the problem. However, in recent years, prolonged drought and unpredictable climate shifts have nudged the village’s already vulnerable water supply and vital infrastructure toward a tipping point.

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Homewise Helps Couple Buy Building

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Christina and Carlos Davis launched Trendz Beauty Supply in December 2010 in Albuquerque to offer high-quality hair and wigs at affordable prices. Having had several negative experiences at other hair stores, the couple decided to make customer service one of their company’s hallmarks. The strategy has paid off. After opening their original shop of 1,700 square feet, the growth of their loyal customer base propelled the company into filling a 3,000 square foot shop, and subsequently into their current 8,000 square foot location with a nearby warehouse encompassing another 2,850 square feet.

The rented space has served the needs of Trendz Beauty Supply, but the Davis’s always wanted to own their own building. That opportunity arose when they learned the owner of the building housing their store was interested in selling.

With the help of the nonprofit lender Homewise, the Davis’s obtained an affordable commercial real estate loan and purchased the building in June of 2022.

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Gallup Charter School Gets $4.4 M Loan

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Clearinghouse CDFI is supporting public educational services for Navajo and minority students in New Mexico. Douglas Turner and Christopher Taylor of T2 Gurley, LLC are seeking new construction of a public charter school in Gallup, NM, and Clearinghouse CDFI is providing a $4,400,000 loan to help make that possible.

Early College High Schools (ECHS) help bridge the gap between traditional learning and students who are looking to accelerate their future. ECHS focuses on career and technical education for disadvantaged and underrepresented students. Middle College High School (MCHS) is an ECHS in Gallup, NM utilizing temporary trailers in lieu of a school building. Clearinghouse CDFI funding allows T2 Gurley, LLC to fully construct a new school building on a 20-year lease with the option and intention for MCHS to purchase the building in the near future.

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WESST Helps Clients Help Others

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Brenda Ramos Almeida helped her husband start J&B Gardens while working full time as an office manager for another contractor. In 2019, she turned to WESST, a nonprofit business development organization, for one-on-one counseling and workshops to help her manage the Northern New Mexico landscaping business as she maintained the company’s books. It wasn’t long before she spotted a need and decided to start a service to assist others with bookkeeping and acquiring permits and applications for their own small businesses.

Libelula Financial focuses on the Spanish-speaking small business community. Being bilingual, Ramos Almeida knew she could provide customers with the highest quality of service in both Spanish and English, offering bookkeeping and general business assistance.

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NM LEEP Accepting Applications

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The New Mexico Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program (NM LEEP) is accepting applications from technology entrepreneurs ready to obtain two years of individualized assistance to commercialize their technology. The program pairs deep-tech entrepreneurs with the unique talent and technology of Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, matching LEEP fellows with seed capital and a large network of mentors, customers, and investors. Applications will be accepted from February 22 to April 22, 2024.

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