A $40,000 state grant will help restart economic development programs in Longmont that are key to the city’s return from COVID-19, President and CEO of Longmont Economic Development Partnership, or EDP, Jessica Erickson, said Monday.
The funds will be used to boost entrepreneurs in Longmont, get local job seekers the support they need after being laid off during the pandemic and boost national marketing efforts to bring good-paying businesses to the city, Erickson said.
“Nonprofits and economic development groups like ours really suffered financially from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Erickson said. “This grant program is all part of an effort to get back to business as usual.”
The Longmont EDP last week received an Economic Development Organization one-time $40,000 recovery grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade. Longmont EDP applied for the grant, while the Longmont Chamber, LDDA and Innovate Longmont all collectively agreed to support the Longmont EDP grant rather than pursuing funding individually, Erickson said in a news release.
“This ensured that we would not be competing against one another for funding. We went into this process knowing that this approach would ultimately benefit more people, more entrepreneurs and more businesses than if we had each pursued that grant individually,” Erickson said.
The grant will go to three programs that will benefit the community the most, Erickson said. ”They will really support the overall recovery of Longmont,” she told the Leader.
The grant award will be used to:
- Launch the Longmont Entrepreneurial Hub, an Advance Longmont 2.0 strategic initiative to construct a powerful “no wrong door” ecosystem for Longmont’s entrepreneurs. Small businesses and entrepreneurs will have access to education and knowledge that will help them launch their and sustain their enterprises, Erickson said.
- Support Longmont EDP’s national marketing efforts to attract talent and business investments to Longmont; and.
- Develop and deploy the Longmont Career Pathways platform, in partnership with local startup Indigo, to connect local job seekers to local education and professional development opportunities to set them on a pathway to pursue local employment opportunities that best fit their natural strengths and provide a higher standard of living, according to a Longmont EDP news release.
The Career Pathways platform is especially geared toward those who were laid off during COVID or are looking for a better job, Erickson said.
