Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 vulnerable to a downturn in any single sector. This work is often done in coordination with state partners at the Department of Local Affairs or the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. “Another innovative program that targets rural Colorado is called Rural Jump Start. It allows businesses that export goods or services out of their local county--and have a novel business idea that doesn’t compete with a nearby distressed county--to get small cash grants to cover business expenses. It also includes tax advantages to help these businesses grow over time. We’re excited about and proud of this program. Also, some of our access- to-capital programs, like the Start-up Loan Fund, specifically serve rural communities to help them start new businesses and hire new employees. We’re definitely focused on adding vitality and diversity to our rural economies.” BVM: Looking to the next five years, how do you see the economic landscape changing in Colorado, and what are OEDIT’s goals? Kraft: “We want to upskill our workforce and ensure Colorado has plenty of middle-skill jobs, and jobs that can support people living healthy and financially secure lives. Also, we want to continue to diversify our economy geographically to make sure there are lots of different industry sectors to support each of region in Colorado. We need to expand our transition toward renewable energy and implement some new technologies to help with sustainability. And, of course, we’re really interested in getting through the deficit of housing units, and start building more inventory in dense, sustainable ways across the entire state. Those are all really important issues to us. “I think we’re on a really positive path. Colorado is on the right side of economic history, in terms of having a really diverse, strong, high-tech economic base that we can continue to build on.” Jeff Kraft, Deputy Director of OEDIT