By Rich Williams, New Mexico MainStreet Director and Arts & Cultural Districts Program Coordinator

Maria-Alicia Cordova cares about her business and the community it serves. Besides offering manicures, haircuts and other personal-care services at Al’s Styling Salon in Belen, Cordova serves on the board of the Belen MainStreet Partnership — a community effort to improve the appearance and economic vitality of the city’s downtown.

Small Business Saturday — the Saturday after Thanksgiving — draws attention to the important role that Cordova and other independent merchants in New Mexico play in the local, state and national economy.

“Belen has always been good to my business,” Cordova said of the venture her father started 57 years ago. “My father raised our family on salon work.” Continue reading →

By Finance New Mexico

The 2014 Farm Bill has something for every New Mexican who makes a living by farming or ranching. The bill, which became law in February, affects Department of Agriculture programs until fiscal year 2018.

Most significantly, the bill replaces direct and countercyclical payments to farmers with expanded crop insurance offerings.
The discontinued program subsidized farmers based on historical acreage and yields rather than actual yield, while countercyclical payments compensated farmers when crop prices fell. Continue reading →

By Antoinette Vigil, Finance Development Team Leader, New Mexico Economic Development Department

When a New Mexico community wants to undertake a project for downtown revitalization, business incubation, housing or infrastructure, backers often don’t know where to look for financing and are easily discouraged or intimidated by the maze of government agencies they have to navigate.

The state addressed this problem in the “rural renaissance” platform of its five-year economic development plan, unveiled in 2013, by creating New Mexico FundIt — a federal-state partnership that aims to be a one-stop source of start-to-finish financing for projects that will help with infrastructure development, job creation and small-business development.

Through FundIt, communities can vet their development proposals before multiple state and federal infrastructure funding agencies at the same time. Continue reading →

By Sara Haring, Manager, JTIP Program

For 42 years, New Mexico’s Job Training Incentive Program has reimbursed qualified companies for some training costs associated with job creation. The program funds a portion of classroom or on-the-job training, reimbursing an expanding or relocating business for up to 75 percent of a trainee’s wages for as long as six months.

The funding aims to help companies that manufacture a product in New Mexico, export a substantial percentage of services out of state or are considered a “green” industry. Eligible workers must be new hires holding full-time year-round jobs in businesses that are expanding in — or moving to — New Mexico. Continue reading →

By Antoinette Vigil, Finance Development Team Leader, New Mexico Economic Development Department

Roswell officials knew the city needed a new railroad spur if it hoped to save jobs in local industries dependent on rail shipping and to stimulate job creation in emerging industries. Occasional derailments underscored the risk of using the old Burlington Northern tracks, which didn’t meet the weight and gauge requirements of modern railroad cars.

But building industrial infrastructure is expensive — more than the city, the railroad or the rail-dependent businesses could afford on their own.

So the city launched a public-private partnership to upgrade and modernize the rail spur in a way that benefits the entire community and allows more public access to the privately owned tracks. Continue reading →

By Kathy Keith, Executive Director, Regional Development Corporation

When the 20/20 campaign was conceived in 2011, the Regional Development Corporation of Española aimed to identify at least 20 local businesses as high-growth companies that would double their work forces or revenues by 2020. Organizers anticipated nurturing two to three businesses each year to get to 20 robust companies by the end of the decade.

At a reception on October 24, eight Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Taos businesses shared the honors as the Northern New Mexico 20/20 campaign’s Class of 2013. They join another eight companies honored at last year’s event.

Continue reading →

By Claudia Serrano, Projects Coordinator, New Mexico MEP

The New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership is taking the “buy local” concept to a broader level with its New Mexico Made program.

The initiative aims to promote the companies that create and fabricate goods in New Mexico, where manufacturing is a $5.9 billion industry representing 7.4 percent of the total gross state product, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

It does so by certifying qualifying businesses on the New Mexico Made website directory, raising the profile of the state’s manufacturers and giving participating businesses access to promotions and networking opportunities. Continue reading →