Needs and Opportunities
Currently, all of northern NM’s communities are individually providing or attempting to provide services for marketing, business retention, expansion and attraction. Outside of Santa Fe and Los Alamos County, most communities are struggling to financially support and implement this activity. As shown in the SWOT analysis below, REDI has identified the following needs related to economic development services, from discussions with regional stakeholders:
1. Branding and marketing
2. Community and regional profiles
3. Asset inventories, including commercial, office and industrial space and infrastructure capacities
4. Liaison for NMEDD and NM Partnership
5. Business recruitment for targeted industries
6. Support for small businesses
7. Assistance with incentives, policies and permitting processes at the local government level
8. “Rapid response” activities, including timely interventions and solutions to ensure that businesses do not leave the region
9. Film project coordination
As shown in the SWOT Analysis above, start-up business activities and entrepreneurship appear to be relatively well-supported by a number of regional projects, including Empowering the Business Spirit Initiative (EBS); Northern NM Connect; and the Taos Entrepreneurial Network (TEN), whose services may now be expanded to Rio Arriba County. Two gaps in services and facilities for entrepreneurs and small businesses are noted, however. There is no longer an organization assisting start-up businesses and entrepreneurs in Santa Fe, due to the recent closure of Santa Fe Economic Development, Inc. Also, there are no incubator facilities in the Española Valley or Rio Arriba County, although business incubators exist in Santa Fe (Santa Fe Business Incubator) and Los Alamos (Los Alamos Small Business Center), and a commercial kitchen and mobile slaughtering unit exist at the Taos County Economic Development Corporation.
Several jurisdictions in northern NM have vacant business and industrial parks that would be suitable for environmentally clean light industry or manufacturing. These business and industrial parks are outside of the urban areas, where new industry is important to diversifying and growing the economy. Currently available sites include the Johnnie Roybal Industrial Park in Española, Ohkay Owingeh Industrial Park, Pojoaque Pueblo Industrial Park and Questa Business Park. Industrial land may also be available in Los Alamos and Santa Clara Pueblo. While outside business recruitment is not the top priority for community leaders, statewide trends point to manufacturing in target industries that community leaders support, such as aerospace, renewable energy and green technology. The NM Partnership, the contract entity for business recruitment to the NM Economic Development Department, reports that no economic development projects have been placed in northern NM, although the partnership has had great success in central and southern NM. Clearly, there are opportunities for attracting new or growing businesses to these sites.
Recommendation
This Plan proposes creating a Regional Economic Development Liaison position in a current non-profit organization, such as the Regional Development Corporation, to provide these services on a regional basis. Clearly, entities which currently have, or are planning to obtain, their own economic development services, would be encouraged to do so. Regionalization of certain economic development activities would not duplicate services, but would provide a complimentary, new approach to increase benefit for all communities in the region.
As shown in the table at above, many regional economic development marketing efforts exist. Web sites for these are structured around one or more target industries; have site selection locators for office, retail and industrial space; as well as reports on demographics, workforce, quality of life, transportation, economic incentives, and local government contacts and regulations. Most regional marketing efforts appear to occur in larger metropolitan areas, although a few rural examples exist, such as Southern Oregon Economic Development, Inc., whose prime industry is manufacturing and wood products.
In terms of benefit to the stakeholders in the region, regionalized economic development services would better market northern NM’s communities. New businesses typically assess potential locations by analyzing the market area (retail), the workforce, and the quality of life, including education and health care for employees that may relocate to the area. When small communities such as Española, Los Alamos, Questa, Taos or a Pueblo are competing individually for such opportunities, they may appear small, unable to provide the needed workforce, or lacking in basic amenities. The region as a whole can market itself much more successfully by showing a combined market area, combined workforce, and a wide range of amenities. Truly, residents in northern NM already commute for work, shopping and to access services, so regional marketing would accurately represent what occurs daily throughout northern NM. A regionalized approach would also provide a way for smaller, more rural communities to attract and grow business without spending limited resources to fund their own economic development position.
For the business, regionalized services would make it easier to relocate or grow within the region. Rather than “shopping” various jurisdictions, a business could choose to research locations regionally, at one physical location and through one web site. The Economic Development Liaison would work cooperatively with the business and the communities in the region to find the best location and package for the business. This would reduce the number of new businesses who may miss an opportunity by only “shopping” certain communities, and the number of existing businesses who move out of the region because they do not consider other locations in the region, or do not have someone to intervene for them at the local or tribal government level.
Specifically, Regional Economic Development Services would provide the following:
1. A regional brand for northern NM.
2. A regional website that includes regional and community profiles, a database of available property, and information on incentives, business environment, government regulations and contacts.
3. Liaison services which match businesses and film opportunities to locations throughout the region. The liaison would work with existing community development corporations and chambers of commerce to place businesses and films throughout the region.
Potential Constraints
Two barriers to regionalized economic development services should be considered. First, cooperation, rather than competition, must take hold among and between local and tribal governments. The regional approach will only work if jurisdictions in the region are willing to “lose” as well as “gain” new businesses for the greater good of the region. Second, while it would be logical to assume that partial funding for this project would come from government entities that benefit from the services. This situation may place regionalized economic development services in competition for funding with local community development corporations and chambers of commerce that currently depend on local government funding.