HUERFANO RESOURCES
Spanish Peaks Country in Southern Colorado has drawn explorers, settlers, and visitors for centuries. Cut by a scenic highway wrapped in tales and tradition and packed with natural wonders, outdoor recreation, and artistic inspiration, this unique corner of Colorado is not only where legends roam… it’s where they play, create, explore, and thrive.
TECHNICAL RESOURCES
The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is dedicated to helping existing and new businesses grow and prosper in Southern Colorado by providing free and confidential consulting and no- or low-cost training programs.
Let the SBDC help you create and retain jobs, secure loans, increase sales, win government contracts, obtain certifications, and more.
The Southern Colorado Economic Development District is a non-profit organization whose membership is the twelve counties of Southeastern Colorado. Our primary focus is to provide economic development planning and technical assistance to the twelve member counties.
Downtown Colorado, Inc. (DCI) is a nonprofit, membership association committed to building better communities by providing assistance to Colorado downtowns, commercial districts and town centers. Established in 1982 as Colorado Community Revitalization Association and now dba Downtown Colorado, Inc., our organization provides five core services to organizations and individuals engaged in downtown and commercial district development:
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Advisory Services
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Educational Events
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Advocacy and Information
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Program Participation
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Colorado Challenge Program
The Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) is the state agency that is available to help strengthen Colorado’s communities.
DOLA works in partnership with local governments and communities statewide to provide funding for projects and disaster recovery relief. We provide state and federal funding to private housing developers, housing authorities, and local governments to increase the inventory of affordable housing, and work diligently to help our state’s most vulnerable population to remove them from homelessness. DOLA also provides expertise through robust technical assistance programs to help with community planning, property taxation, and tax appeals.
The vision of the Colorado Workforce Development Council is that every Colorado employer has access to a skilled workforce and every Coloradan has the opportunity for meaningful employment, resulting in individual and statewide economic prosperity.
The CWDC’s mission is to enhance and sustain a skills-based talent development network that meets the needs of employers, workers, job seekers, and learners for today and tomorrow.
Energize Colorado offers small businesses relief and a path to recovery—from access to funding to developing new ways to engage with customers in a safe way, innovating business models, or diversifying revenue streams.
In the long term, Energize Colorado captures opportunities for structural change and innovation that will also aid small businesses in their uphill battle to remain competitive and thrive.
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment connects job seekers with great jobs, provides an up-to-date and accurate picture of the economy to help decision making, assists workers who have been injured on the job, ensures fair labor practices, helps those who have lost their jobs by providing temporary wage replacement through unemployment benefits, and protects the workplace - and Colorado communities - with a variety of consumer protection and safety programs.
The Southern Colorado Innovation Link’s (SCIL) mission is to leverage a robust innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem to encourage the development and commercialization of intellectual property, to support innovators, entrepreneurs, creatives, and makers (IIECM), to promote the success and growth of commerce, and to foster sustained regional prosperity.
It’s all about who you know, right? Start making mission-critical connections today on the Startup Colorado Network.
Our FREE peer-to-peer network of entrepreneurs, small business owners, funders, and business support agents is built by rural, for rural. Startup Colorado is more than a mission; it’s a movement to support your right to start and it belongs to everyone.
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
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Colorado Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) is a financing tool that allows commercial and multifamily property owners to finance qualifying energy efficiency, water conservation, and other clean energy improvements on existing and newly constructed properties, with repayment of the financing through a voluntary assessment on their property tax bill.
Created in 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to help small business owners and entrepreneurs pursue the American dream. The SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.
USDA Rural Development forges partnerships with rural communities, funding projects that bring housing, community facilities, business guarantees, utilities and other services to rural America. USDA provides technical assistance and financial backing for rural businesses and cooperatives to create quality jobs in rural areas. Rural Development promotes the President's National Energy Policy and ultimately the nation's energy security by engaging the entrepreneurial spirit of rural America in the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements. Rural Development works with low-income individuals, State, local and Indian tribal governments, as well as private and nonprofit organizations and user-owned cooperatives.
FSWCF is headquartered in Alamosa, CO but serves rural Colorado in its entirety. FSWCF has a primary mission of supporting tangible economic opportunities throughout rural Colorado by making much needed non-traditional capital (loans) available to emerging and existing businesses, which in turn create, retain and grow jobs. Often times, it is the FSWCF loan that enables a bank to get to a “yes” while staying within the parameters of its loan policy.
RMMFI serves its entrepreneurs with both business development and lending services. Our goal is to build the RMMFI entrepreneur into a business owner who can successfully shift and adapt to changing environments presented both in their businesses and in their lives. RMMFI’s programs look to build stability and growth across personal stability, entrepreneurial spark, and business feasibility.
Intentionally built along the Idea, Launch, and Thrive business incubator pathway, RMMFI programs help entrepreneurs build strong foundations in both their businesses and their lives.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) creates a positive business climate that encourages dynamic economic development and sustainable job growth. We advance the state’s economy through financial and technical programs under the leadership of the Governor and Executive Director.
We work hard to grow a resilient economy where everyone not only gets by, but thrives. Our agency consists of 12 divisions and offices that support various industries, regions, and sectors.
Our name is long, so we call ourselves OEDIT (pronounced oh-eh-dit).