The Resource Center for Raza Planning: A Southwestern Recipe
for Small Business & Community Development
Last November, residents of a semi-rural community in New
Mexico celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the South
Valley Economic Development Center, a facility that incorporates
a small business ‘incubator’ and commercial kitchen.
By this time next year, residents of Bernalillo County, a
community located southwest of Albuquerque, will be able to
obtain the Center’s help in starting or expanding their
businesses. This 17,000-sq. ft. facility will be located in
the heart of an historically rich semi-rural corridor. Since
1996, The Rio Grande Community Development Corporation (RGCDC)
has steadily worked to make this community project a reality.
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The HSIAC grant awarded to the Resource Center for Raza Planning
(RCRP) at the University of New Mexico has been critical to
advancing the efforts of the community and making this project
possible.
The celebration this past November highlighted the importance
of small businesses in the South Valley. “Supporting
our local businesses helps boost our South Valley economy,”
says Julia Stephens, Director of the RGCDC. “Local businesses
help meet the retail and service needs of our community.”
A goal of the SVEDC is to increase the number of small businesses,
while at the same time providing residents with opportunities
for self-employment through productive use of local skills
and talents. The South Valley is a rich source of talented
and skilled individuals who take pride in their work, and
the SVEDC is actively nurturing those talents.
The small business incubator and commercial kitchen are part
of a larger strategy being pursued by both the RCRP and RGCDC
to promote community economic development in the South Valley.
Residents wish to maintain the culture and rural character
of the South Valley, and to ensure the economic viability
of agricultural production. Many are also interested in seeing
their small business sector strengthened and preserved.
Promoting the economic viability of agriculture and the feasibility
of local food production by supporting value-added manufacturing
and developing markets have been the underpinnings of the
small business incubator and commercial kitchen. RGCDC hopes
to support local growers by providing a site for food manufacturing,
establishing networks among growers and retailers, offering
technical assistance to enhance business development, and
initiating educational and media campaigns to develop markets
for locally grown and produced goods.
The incubator will facilitate the creation of micro-enterprises,
provide leases to small businesses, and offer technical assistance
to both existing and potential businesses. The Self-Employment
Learning for Life (SELL) program will provide incubator clients
with the preparation and basic tools for becoming successful
self-employed businesspersons.
The program will focus on enhancing employability and economic
self-reliance, eventually leading individuals into successful
business enterprises while providing products and services
to the community and taxes to the local government. Workshops
and mentorship programs will also be a part of SVEDC’s
menu of services.
At full build-out, the facility will include office space
for staff and training; additional offices for clients and
businesses; shared administrative support areas, computer
labs, conference rooms, and classrooms; a commercial kitchen
where participants will process food products; an office area
where entrepreneurs can lease space for new businesses; and
a small retail area that will sell local products, including
those made at the incubator.
The Resource Center for Raza Planning in the School of Architecture
and Planning received a $400,000 grant from the HUD Hispanic
Serving Institutions for Assisting Communities (HSIAC) grant
program to assist the RGCDC with development of the incubator.
In its initial work in the South Valley, RCRP formed the Agricultural
Preservation Project and produced research on land use and
subdivision regulations and preliminary market-feasibility
studies. RCRP and RGCDC have subsequently embarked on a more
formal relationship to carry out research on agriculture in
the South Valley and the potential value of the small business
incubator and commercial kitchen. RCRP conducted consumer
and producer surveys, as well as a series of in-depth interviews
to determine how RGCDC’s economic development plans
could meet the needs of residents in the South Valley. This
relationship has continued to grow with the help of the HUD
grant, which is being used to assist RGCDC in developing the
South Valley Economic Development Center.
RCRP has been successful in raising a large portion of the
$2.2 million dollars needed for Phase I construction. In addition,
as part of its work on the HSIAC grant, RCRP conducted community
and economic assessments in the areas of employment, infrastructure,
consumer and business retail and service patterns, and opinions
on development. The University of New Mexico Center went door
to door for its 95 random sample survey and supplemented this
data with interviews and the input of focus groups. RCRP also
assisted RGCDC in conducting a door-to-door survey of the
surrounding neighborhood to assess the opinions on the impact
of this project and to ascertain their interest in the services
of the SVEDC. Among respondents, 76% indicated they would
use the facilities and 52% said they knew someone else who
would. RCRP used this information to develop the Self-Employment
Learning for Life Program. In bringing university resources
to the community, RCRP has worked closely with neighborhoods,
the RGCDC, and the county and state governments.
The efforts undertaken at the University of New Mexico School
of Architecture and Planning serves as an excellent model
of a university assisting a community-based organization in
reaching its stated economic development goals. Unquestionably,
the HSIAC award provided to this university/community partnership
has made a critical difference in bringing this project to
fruition.
The most important outcome of this project, however, may
be its contribution to the efforts to preserve the integrity
of the South Valley: its cultural resources and climate, its
semi-rural character, its agricultural and natural resources,
and its small business enterprises. At the same time, the
project is enabling community participation in a process that
enhances the sense of interdependence and trust, while empowering
residents with the capacity to help shape the future of the
South Valley.
This article was written by Dr. Teresa Córdova,
Director, Resource Center for Raza Planning, University of
New Mexico.
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