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Eastern, CO Regional Economic Development Forum

Economic Development Council of Colorado (EDCC) Travels to Eastern Colorado for its Bi-Annual Regional Economic Development Forum

On March 12, 2019 representatives from economic development organizations from around the state, elected officials, and local business leaders, will gather at The Lincoln County Fairgrounds in Hugo, CO, for Economic Development Council of Colorado’s (EDCC) Regional Economic Development Forum (click for more information and to register), the first in a series of forums scheduled for 2019.

The EDCC’s Regional Economic Development Forums are designed to look at our communities across the state and learn what attributes they have and what challenges they face. The challenges of one community can be very similar to that of another. This is an opportunity for us to come together as a state-wide organization and gain knowledge of these issues, acquire tools and resources to implement in our communities, and to better the economy for all of Colorado.

This regional forum will be looking at the eastern plains including Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Morgan, Washington, Elbert, Lincoln, Kit Carson, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa, Otero, Bent, Prowers, and Baca Counties (click for the agenda). The day’s sessions will start with a regional economic overview presented by Brian Lewandowski with CU Leeds School of Business, followed by a co-presentation on regionalism with City of Commerce City’s, Mayor Ford. We will have an update on the newly assigned Opportunity Zones – a program that was enacted as part of the 2017 tax reform package designed to drive long-term capital investment to rural and low-income urban communities. Precision agriculture – systems designed to support the optimization of whole-farm management – is the latest industry that potentially could be the eastern plains legacy. Several panels comprised of industry experts will discuss the latest trends in this emerging industry and how the eastern plains can deploy and grow this industry with the right kind of infrastructure and skilled workforce in place.

We are pleased to announce Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera along with Hoyt Skabelund, Division CEO of Banner Health’s Rural Hospitals and Kevin Stansbury, CEO of the Lincoln Community Hospital who will join together in an open forum discussion on the economic stability and future programs to stabilize our healthcare systems in rural Colorado. We are also pleased to announce a special presentation by the newly appointed Executive Director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade Office, Betsy Markey.

For more information and to register for the event, click here.

Event supporters:
Gold Sponsor, Prairie Development Corporation | Statewide Partner, Colorado Workforce Development Council | Keynote Lunch Sponsor, Flagler Cooperative Association | Platinum Sponsors, Colorado Office of Economic Development & Int’l Trade and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association | Breakfast Sponsor, Skillful, A Markle Initiative | Regional Sponsors, City of Westminster, High Plains Bank, Viaero Wireless, KC Electric Association, Southeast Colorado Enterprise Development, Mountain View Electric Association, and Otero County | Media Sponsors, The Limon Leader/Eastern Colorado Plainsman and Media Logic Radio