The Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) is seeking public input on a plan for economic development in central New Mexico. process helps create priorities for how the region will grow and use federal money.
The Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy is a planning tool that helps communities apply for federal economic development funding. It looks at the economic strengths and weaknesses of a region.
Any community or organization applying for federal funds from the U.S. Economic Development Administration has to align its project with the goals in this document, said Augusta Meyers, spokesperson for MRCOG. Also EDA relies on a region’s strategy document when it decides on investments and where to grant funding.
Meyers said the last strategy document was done five years ago, right before the COVID pandemic.
“And so the landscape, economically, in the middle region of New Mexico, where 40% of the state’s population lives, has changed dramatically since then,” she says.
MRCOG has held open houses in all four counties of the region (Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, Valencia), but it’s also seeking input through an online survey.
“It’s critical. We really want people to take the survey, whether you’re a resident, an industry leader or stakeholder, a business person, a tribal member, this will inform how this new economic development strategy looks for the region,” she said.
Some of the projects that have used the strategy document in order to land U.S. Economic Development Administration funds include the Sandia Science & Technology Park and the Amazon fulfillment center, as well as the Albuquerque Rail Yards.
The survey is open for input until Nov. 14 and asks people to evaluate things like housing, roads, access to health care and education, and which industries should be priorities.
Meyers said the goal is to have a new Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy out by the end of the year.
