Chaffee County Economic Development Corporation

Awards & Recognition-Community Builder of the Year 2023 - Greater Colorado Venture Fund-Emerging Startup Community of the Year 2022 - Rockies Venture GroupEntrepreneurial Support-Recruited a second cohort of 9 entrepreneurs/business owners to participate in the second Ascent accelerator.-Planned and executed 2nd Annual Ascent Launch Event at Steamplant Event Center, to a SOLD OUT crowd of 225 attendees, roughly triple attendance from year one. -Professional photo recap: httpsdrivenbynaturecoblog2023asce... and delivered an 8-week Ascent curriculum, from Feb. 1-March 31-Planned and executed first-of-its-kind Powder_Pitch @ Monarch Mountain experiential mentoring event. -Two-day on-mountain mentoring and investing event pairing 15 mentors with 12 cohort companies from 22 and 23 cohort. -Professional photo recap: httpsdrivenbynaturecoblog2023powd... and executed 2nd Annual Ascent Startup Summit @ Surf Hotel, to a SOLD OUT crowd of 135 attendees-Event and professional photo recap: httpsdrivenbynaturecoblog2023asce... and executed first-of-its-kind Rapid_Pitch @ RiverRunners. -Two-day on-river mentoring and investing event pairing Ascent mentors with Ascent cohort companies from 22 and 23 cohort. -Event and professional photo recap with participant feedback quotes: httpsdrivenbynaturecoblog2023rapi... - Recruited and onboarded additional (now 45+) local and statewide business advisors for our Mentor Network: httpsdrivenbynaturecomentorsOngoing - Significantly grew followers on our various social media channels for the EDC and initiative:-Linkedin - httpswwwlinkedincomcompanychaffee... -Instagram - wwwinstagramcomdrivenbynaturecoTa... Pipeline-Continued to develop excellent working relationships with local academic partners, including school districts and CMC, for the purpose of creating more and better alignment and collaboration between industry and academia. -Planned, executed quarterly Future of Work Bootcamps, where employers from the private, public and nonprofit sectors learned best practices in attracting and retaining current workforce and future talent pipeline. -Employer education topics included: - State Workforce Resources for Employers-More than Wages and Benefits: The Future with Job Quality - Beyond the 4-year Degree: The Future of Skills-Based Hiring - Look Local First: Your Future Talent Pipeline-Work-Based Learning: The Future of Education-Impact Metrics-Three Future of Work Bootcamps-24 hours of group instruction-27 Chaffee County employers participated-9 new internships hostedPublic Policy Advocacy & Education-Designed, recruited, and established a new sitting Public Policy Committee of the EDC, with participation from leading local business executives-Created Public Policy Pillar statements, outlining the business community perspective on our key pillar issues of importance:-Housing, Water, Broadband, Land Use, Education, Early Childhood, Arts & Recreation-Policy Advocacy - Leveraging the Policy Committee, produced effective policy position statements and public comments on the following topics:-Chaffee County Land Use Code Update-BV Water Allocation Policy-City of Salida South Ark Neighborhood Development-State Land Use Legislation (SB-213) -Poncha Springs Redevelopment Opportunities-County and BV Development Moratoria -Others-Delegations - EDC Policy Committee hosted multiple statewide delegations throughout 2023, including:-Colorado Office of Economic Development and International TradeNew Executive Director, Eve Leiberman & New Chief Strategy Officer, Laura RodriguezState Economic Development CommissionersGlobal Business Development TeamAdvanced Industries Grant Program Team-Colorado Department of Local Affairs - Rural Roadmap Roadshow-EDC Insight Series - Hosted quarterly speaker series educating the business community and public sector leaders on key policy topics