Curtis Englehart - Grand Junction Economic Partnership - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group

Christi sits down with GJEP Executive Director, Curtis Englehart, to discuss the economic and business outlook for the Grand Valley, including recent wins and the diversification of our local economy.

Learn more about GJEP at https://www.gjep.org/

If you prefer to watch your podcasts, head over to our YouTube page!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews
and incredible tales fromColorado's Western Slope, from
the mountains to the desert.
Christy Reese and her team herefrom the Movers Shakers, and
characters of the Grand Valleyand surrounding mountain towns
that make the Western slope theplace we all love. You'll
learn, you'll laugh, you'lllove with the full circle.
Hello everybody, I'm KristyReese. Welcome back to the Full

(00:27):
Circle Podcast. I'm reallydelighted to have today as our
guest, the executive directorof the Grand Junction Economic
Partnership. Curtis Engelhart.
Welcome, Curtis. Thank

Speaker 2 (00:36):
You. Yes . So happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you.
Appreciate you coming and , um,sharing all the successes that
we're having in Grand Junctionand , uh, very excited about
what's going on here. But wannastart kind of go back a little
bit and talk about yourhistory. Sure. Um, you haven't
always been in economicdevelopment , uh, but you grew
up in the area, so you'rereally familiar with businesses

(00:59):
and, and the local economy. Howdid you get started in , um,
well , we'll talk about, youknow, where you grew up and,
and your first , uh, careersand then how you transitioned
into economic development.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Sure. Yeah. So I've a been a Western Slope guy, you
know, all my life. I grew up inDelta, so right down the road.
Yeah . But , uh, you know,

Speaker 1 (01:19):
And you know, I grew up in a small town and people
say, oh, not many people cansay that. Right, right. Yeah .
You get that all the

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Time. There's , yep , I do. And there's something
special about growing up in asmall town, right. Um, yeah.
So, so when I was younger, my,my great ambition, my main goal
was to play baseball. That'sall I ever wanted to do. And ,
um, so I was able to do that incollege. And I played , uh, two
years at , uh, Trinidad StateJunior College. Where is that?
So that is , uh, SouthwestColorado. It's about

Speaker 1 (01:46):
In Trinidad. Yep .

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yep . Six hours or so , um, away. And that was a
really great experience and ,um, led me to what was then
Mesa State College. Um,finished out my two years there
and graduated and then havebeen in the Grand Junction area
ever since then. And so when Iwas coming outta college, I
always thought like parks andrecreation. I wanted to , I did

(02:08):
an internship with therecreation department in Delta
Mm-Hmm. . Andthat really , uh, checked a lot
of interests that I had. Andso, coming outta college, I got
a, a job with the City of GrandJunction, and I thought that
would kind of be what I wouldwork towards. Mm-Hmm.
. Um, but it ,you know, I, I started to, to
realize maybe that wasn't , uh,what was for me. And , um, if I

(02:32):
wanted to stay here locally,you know, it seemed like back
then I , I graduated college in2008, which was a terrible time
to graduate college. Wow. Yes.
. Right. So , um, Iended up, I , I knew I needed
some leadership experience. Iknew I needed to work on some
communication skills, and so Iended up taking a job as what's

(02:52):
called a relocation consultantfor a moving company. And this
moving company was,

Speaker 1 (02:56):
I saw on your Mesa Moving,

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Mesa Moving, yep .
And it was in Montrose. Okay.
So now I'm commuting toMontrose Uhhuh every day . And
, um, I learned a ton throughthat job. I, I gotta handle the
operations, also did the sales.
So checked that leadershipexperience, checked that
communication skillsexperience. Um, and I did it
for a little over a year. Andthen about that time, me and my

(03:20):
wife had our first daughter,and I was leaving , uh, the
house before she woke up. I wasgetting home , um, before or
right after she would go tobed. And so I ended up needing
a change and , uh, ended upgoing to the workforce center
looking for work. Um, ended upgetting hired by the workforce,
summer . And soI was a business development

(03:41):
representative for them for afew years, which, you know, I
connected local businesses to,to talent, talented job
seekers. And , um, worked myway up and I became the
Workforce Center director in2016, and did that for about
five and a half years. And thatworkforce development really
opened up this, my eyes toeconomic development. Mm-Hmm.

(04:01):
with workforcedevelopment, you have to have,
or with economic development,you have to have workforce
development and vice versa. Andso that eventually led me to
the role in GEP . I've been inthis role now as executive
director for about a year and ahalf, and I'm , I'm loving it.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Wonderful. Um, a couple things I wanted to touch
on when you were talking about,you must be really proud of
your alma mater, I mean, beinga CMU graduate to see all the
changes that have happenedthere and the growth. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah. It is so great to see the growth. In fact, I,
I went to CMU, it was a numberof years ago, but for a
meeting, and I literally gotlost on campus , and ,
and I went to school there.
Right. So just the growth is isso great. Yeah . And then , um,
I was able to be a part oftheir strategic planning this
last year where they developedsome new values for their
university and just so cool tosee that human scale design

(04:49):
they're doing there and , andjust the values they're
instilling into their students,because that's our emerging
workforce, that's our, ourfuture there. So

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Absolutely. It really ties into what you're
doing.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Absolutely. Yep .

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Interesting to think about. Um, 'cause I have
teenagers , uh, because how youtransition from one career to
another, you know, and yousaying, you know, you really
thought parks and rec was gonnabe your thing, and you don't
know until you start Right. Andyou go, this isn't quite right.
And then you, I I really admireyou for being able to identify

(05:21):
that you needed to develop someskills to, to do some different
things. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah. Absolutely.
You know, and I think some ofthat's through some hard
lessons learned, you know, and,and sometimes I think , uh,
when we don't have all theexperience we need yet, we
think we have it. And I wentthrough some of that where, you
know, I was getting looked overfor some promotional
opportunities or , um, applyingfor a different job and not
even getting an interview andthen having to do a little bit

(05:47):
of self-reflection saying,well, this is probably why. And
then going out and making sureI, I got those skills I needed.
Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
and I , you know, I tell my kids all
the time, you , you don't knowwhat you wanna do now, and you
never know where you , you justgotta get started because you
never know where one job isgonna lead the people you will
meet the experiences that youhave, the experiences that you
like and that you don't likeduring that job Yeah . Will
help you transition intosomething else.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah. And, and I tell this story all the time.
When I was going to college, I,I still had no idea what I
wanted to do. Mm-Hmm.
. And it wasn'tuntil the summer of my junior
year of college that I did aninternship with the Parks and
Recreation department where Ithought, huh, I could see, I
could see myself doing this.
Mm-Hmm. . And soit took so long to get there,
and it shouldn't be that way.

(06:31):
Right. And I'm a huge believer,we , we gotta get further
upstream with our students and,and introduce them to career
pathways at a younger age.
Mm-Hmm. , um, Iwould've loved at ,

Speaker 1 (06:42):
At high school level or even younger. No,

Speaker 2 (06:44):
I'd say even younger. Yeah . I think, you
know, at the middle schoollevel, start doing some more,
you know, field trips and, andreally implement on the job
trainings or some type ofinternship model at the high
school level. Um, but man, ifyou can get our kids exposed to
different career pathways at ayounger age, and just let them
explore and test and try, thatwould be huge in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
It seems like with the advent of social media and
YouTube and being influencers,there's a lot of young
entrepreneurs out there. Imean, I think kids have more
opportunity to beentrepreneurs than ever.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah. Yep .
Absolutely. And you know,what's, what's great about
entrepreneurship , um, rightnow is what you're saying, that
technology piece of it, you ,there's so many resources at
their fingertips Mm-Hmm .
that we never,never used to have. Right.
Yeah. And so, yeah. And I thinkthat's, that's a really , um,
great strength we have in ourcommunity is that

(07:39):
entrepreneurship mindset. Um,especially with the business
incubator being right here. And, and , uh, man, I tell you
what, I think we're gonna seesome really great entrepreneurs
here in the near future.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Well, let's talk about your , um, organization
and what's your mission at GEP?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, so GEP we call ourselves GEP Grand Junction
Economic Partnership. GEP isour acronym. And really what we
wanna do is diversify theeconomy in Mesa County. And we
wanna do that by bringingprimary jobs to the area. So we
focus on business recruitment,retention, and expansion in the
area. And when we talk aboutprimary jobs, a primary job is

(08:17):
anything that pays over themedian annual earnings in Mesa
County, which right now is alittle over $54,000 annually.
Okay. So ,

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Which has come up.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah. It's come up a lot. Mm-Hmm . .
Um, and the incentives that wework with are all centered
around primary jobs, so, whichis great. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
. And you have a board of directors.
How is it , how is GEPorganized?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah , so GEP is a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit , and so we're
publicly and privately funded.
And so I report to a board. Alot of people think, oh, you
know, GEP you're part of thecity of Grand Junction, or
you're part of Mesa County.
That's not the case at all. Andwe enjoy having a little,
little bit of, of freedom andflexibility and being our own
nonprofit . Um, and it allowsus to really get into the

(09:01):
community , um, because we wantour investors to, to really buy
into what we're doing and, andbe in the loop on what we're
doing as well. So , um, GGEPwas formed in, in 1984, which
is hard to believe after the ,um, black Sunday Mm-Hmm.
, you know , when, when ExxonMobil pulled out.
And , um, man, it's, it's justbeen a growing organization

(09:21):
ever since. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Um, I know there's been questions from people in
the past on what's thedifferent role between GEP and
the Chamber of Commerce. Canyou speak to the, the different
roles that you have in, inattracting and retaining
businesses here?

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, that's a , a really great question. And so,
the City of Grand Junction in2015 , um, they commissioned
what was called the North StarStudy. And so this study was
all geared around economicdevelopment for Grand Junction,
and a really great study , um,learned a ton as a community.

(09:57):
And then through it, an MOU wascreated between GEP , the Grand
Junction Chamber of Commerceand the Business Incubator to
really showcase how we cancollaborate, who's the subject
matter expert , expert at what,and how are we not going to
swim in each other's lanes,basically. Right. And so the
Chamber focuses on businessretention and expansion. GEP

(10:21):
focuses on business attraction,and we also collaborate on the
expansion. And then thebusiness incubator fo focuses
on startup andentrepreneurship.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
What a great triumvirate . Right ,
right . Yeah . I mean, it's,it's really incredible. I don't
know how many other communitieshave what we have here, not
only with those three groupsand really strong leadership,
but then CMU and Yep . All theother things that go along with
it. It's really incredible.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
It is rare. It really is rare. And I've been
to a lot of differentcommunities and , um, we always
get asked the question, how,or, you know, how are you doing
it? And a lot of it comes downto the attitude of we don't
care who gets credit for what,as long as we're winning a , as
a whole with Mesa County.
Absolutely. And if we cancontinue that mindset and , and

(11:07):
not have egos, you know, in theroom, but it's really, it's a
collective effort and we're alllocked up and we have been able
to do that, especially undernew leadership. So what's
what's unique is, is the newleadership we have at all three
positions.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Like yes. All three , uh, of those organizations
have new leaders in the lasttwo years. Right? Yep .

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah. And so that's been great to be able to level
set Mm-Hmm. and ,um, have some really good
conversations , um, with my,you know, fellow ed partners,
and really just dive into howdo we better collaborate, not
just say we collaborate, butwhat are we actually doing to,
to collaborate and, and reallygrow , uh, Mesa County in a ,

(11:46):
in a , um, controlled way, in athoughtful way. And it's been a
great partnership. Mm-Hmm.
.

Speaker 1 (11:52):
So , um, what, what's your primary role? Are
you , uh, what's your day today look like? Are you
traveling all the time? Are yougoing to meet with companies?
Are you focusing on marketing?
What does it look like on yourday to

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Day ? Yeah, all the above. Yeah . . So day
to day for me , um, is reallyrunning the , the organization
and , and ensuring we are wherewe need to be. So we have a
staff of five, and one of thoseis a part-time employee, but I
have two, my deputy director aswell as my business development
manager, they are on the frontlines when it comes to business
recruitment and expansion. So ,um, attending trade shows,

(12:29):
having the one-on-oneconversations Mm-Hmm.
, um, workingreally on that attraction piece
is what they're up to. And thenI have a marketing director,
and she is very , uh, skilledwith the targeted marketing and
the outreach, and , um, hasdone an incredible job for us
there. And then I have anoffice manager that who helps
me with, you know, whether itbe invoicing or meeting minutes
or, or anything like that.

(12:49):
Mm-Hmm. . But ,um, one big thing that I do on
top of all that too is thefundraising piece. So we're a 5
0 1 C3 , right ? Mm-Hmm.
. Yep . And so wehave to fundraise. If we want
to grow our impact, we have tocontinue to fundraise. And so
that's a big piece of my job aswell too. But the thing I ,
what that I love about GEP isit's different every day . Yeah
. You know, one day it's, it'smeeting with our businesses,

(13:12):
and the next day it might bemore on the fundraising side,
the next day it might be, youknow, speaking at a, at a
conference or an event. Yeah.
And , um, so I just love thejob and it's, it's been a
really good change for me.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
I'm excited for you.
Uh , and there's just so manygood things happening. Um, talk
about some recent wins orchallenges. What has the last
year looked like in economicatra , uh, business attraction
in Grand Junction?

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah. You know , um, 2023 ended up being a record
year for GEP, and it did notstart off that way, . So
we, when we were, we had a , areally good end to 2022, and we
thought that momentum was gonnacarry right into 2023, but it
was, businesses hit the brakesand it became this wait and see

(13:57):
mode, which I'm sure you arevery familiar with.

Speaker 1 (13:59):
It was very similar in the real estate market. Yeah
. Yep .

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yep . And so we didn't have our first win,
which we define a win as arelocation or expansion until
August of 22, of 23, sorry, of2023. And , um, but we set a
goal as a staff. Uh , we wanted10 wins was our goal. And we
had one by August , butwe continued to keep grinding
and keep fighting. We got thisYeah . And we ended up getting

(14:24):
10 wins. Seriously. We did.
Yeah . Wow. That's fantastic.
And so between , uh, 10 wins ,um, 161 net new jobs for 2023
with 403 potential jobs, we'regetting ready to re release our
annual report . So thesenumbers are top of mind right
now. Um, and we say potentialjobs because as a business
comes in, they're on a hiringschedule. Right. So they're not

(14:46):
gonna hire everybody at once.
Right . It's, it's over time .
And then capital investmentactually was over $20 million
for 2023, so

Speaker 1 (14:53):
That's fantastic.
Well , and the goose , uh,goose gear , goose gear , uh,
was has been in the news Yes .
Lately the big announcement.
That's fantastic. Absolutely.
Relocating from California.
Love hearing that. Yeah . And,and they are discovering what
we all know, right? Yeah . Thisis a great place to live, work,
and do business.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Absolutely. So, goose Gear , it was our first
win for 2024. And so that onecame about , uh, we were at the
Overland Conference, which isan outdoor , uh, conference in
the Denver area, and ourbusiness development manager,
Matt Bell, was at that one, andhe started talking with Goose
Gear and tell 'em about GrandJunction, and they're like, oh
yeah, we've, we've driventhrough Grand Junction a few

(15:32):
times on our way to and from,and , um, started talking
about, you know, their futureplans. And what was unique
about Goose Gear is they'reexpanding, but their lease
rates are so high in HuntingtonBeach. Can you imagine that? It
was, yeah. They ended, theycouldn't find space, that space
they were getting out-priced inthe space they were in. So we
started talking about LosColonials , which is where

(15:55):
we're at right now. And , uh,they ended up stopping that
Sunday on their way backthrough, and we toured 'em all
around Los Colonial . And thatwas kind like that first hook.
And then from there, we're ableto start doing some targeted
marketing through our marketingdirector with them, really
continue to explore and teachthem about Grand Junction and,
and the quality of life. And itended up really being that

(16:16):
quality of life that I wouldsay got them over the edge.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
Were they considering a move to the
Denver area?

Speaker 2 (16:22):
They were actually considering a move to either
Reno, Nevada, Boise, Idaho, St. George, Utah, or Grand
Junction. Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Great win.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
It is a great win.
And it really shows who we'recompeting against. Mm-Hmm.
. It's not thesesmaller rural areas. We are
competing against heavyhitters. And with us being able
to win on this one, that's abig deal.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Well, I think you have a great website. I , I
checked it all out. I love thevideo with our own Jen Taylor
having a prominent position.
Really good job on themarketing. Thank you. How do
you , um, how do you findpeople to send that out to?

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, so we use a lot of , um, whether it's , uh,
Google Analytics , um, we use alot of , uh, YouTube insights.
Uh, we use LinkedIn as well andreally target who we're sending
those to, whether it's, youknow, C level , C level , um,
decision makers, that kind ofthing. Um, but what's really
unique about the OpportunityZone video, it's now has over

(17:20):
42,000 views. And, you know,when you're watching a YouTube
video, you can like click thead , you can skip the ad. Yep .
You know, well , people aren'tdoing that on this one. And so
you can actually monitor that.
And people are very engagedwith, with , uh, that video,
and not just that video, butGrand Junction in general, we
are seeing so much engagement.

(17:42):
Um, you know, the Goose Gearpress release went out and we,
we put it up , we puteverything, you know, on
Facebook, on Instagram, on, youknow, all the, all the socials.
Yeah. And , uh, Facebook ismaybe, you know, seven likes,
10 likes, and we didn't do anyboosting or anything. And we
had over 500 different peoplelike that post and start

(18:03):
commenting on it. And then ,um, what we're able to do then
is when we have a big win, likea Goose gear , we take that and
we start marketing it towardsother outdoor manufacturing
magazines, websites. Mm-Hmm.
platforms. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Any other strategies you , you use to identify and
attract new businesses to GrandJunction?

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, so, you know, we, we do use a lot of , uh,
different techniques, whetherit's , um, just trade shows and
it's meaningful trade shows.
We're not just going to, youknow, all kinds of different
trade shows, but we try and bevery specific with the trade
shows. We do attend and we tryour best to attend with the
state of Colorado. Mm-Hmm.
, if we can gowith Colorado, people know
where Colorado is. They don'talways know where Grand

(18:46):
Junction is. Yeah. But it givesus a foot in the door with some
of these bigger companies. Um,and then, yeah, we also, word
of mouth is huge as well. Andthen just our marketing, which
you mentioned our , our websiteand , um, some of the posts we
do on that really start drivingup that attraction piece as
well . Mm-Hmm. .
So , um, yeah, it's kind of allthe above when it comes to how
we're, how we're doing our, ourprospecting. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
How do you measure the success? Uh, I mean, last
year you wanted 10, what'swhat's 2024 looking like for
you? What's your goal? Yeah,

Speaker 2 (19:18):
So , um, we always want wins, right? And, but
sometimes wins can be outsideof our control. And so we
follow an 80 20 rule at GEP 80%in our, in our control, 20%
not, that's kind of what we, wefollow. And so this year we
really want to explore thedifferent incentive
opportunities from a tax savingpurposes for both our existing

(19:41):
businesses as well asrelocating businesses. That's

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Good to know. And

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah. And so our goal this year , um, we follow
the four Disciplines ofExecution, which is a Franklin
Covey model called 40 x . It'sa goal setting tool that , um,
I've brought with me to theorganization. And , um, big
thing is, is establishing yourX to Y by win, you know, so our
, uh, goal, goal one is to ,um, increase those employer

(20:06):
savings through those stateincentives from zero to , uh,
1,075,000 by the end of theyear. And so a good example of
that is Goose gear. So Goosegear , we are able to get them
approved for a job growthincentive, tax credit. All
these are performance based ,so they don't happen unless the
jobs are actually created andsustained and retained. And so

(20:26):
Goose Gear , uh, projects 49net new jobs. And so their job
growth incentive tax credit is$535,000.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Fantastic. So that's 49 new jobs that they don't
have within the company now.
Right. Not just that they'rebringing to our region.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
They, they will try to bring positions with them.
Mm-Hmm. . Um, butthere, it sounds like, you
know, not everyone, obviouslynot everyone's gonna come. And
then there's also new positionsthat are being created because
with this comes an expansion,and so they have some new
contracts that they justrecently got, and they're also
going to be , um, dipping theirtoes into the international

(21:04):
market, which will also requirenew employees.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Fantastic. Mm-Hmm.
. So , uh, outdoorrecreation is one sector that
you're kind of targeting. Whatother business sectors are you
looking at and who are wehoping to bring to Grand
Junction? What kind ofbusinesses?

Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, so we get asked all the time, what are
your industries? What are youfocusing on? And what I tell
people is we focus onindustries that are bringing
primary jobs to the area. Andso we're not gonna say no to
any industry that's bringingthose, right? Mm-Hmm.
. But what we'reseeing a lot of activity right
now is healthcare. Um,aerospace has been really big
as well, which

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Is really cool to think about Grand Junction
being an aerospace.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah. And, youknow, WestStar Aviation Yeah .
Is planning a big expansionMm-Hmm . , which
would be about 110 net newemployees. Um, and so we're
really excited about that oneas well. Um, but we're also
seeing the IT industry continueto grow as well. So , um, but ,
but we continue to really seegrowth across the board, and

(22:03):
we've really seen our economydiversified really since about,
you know, really 2016 is whenwe really started to see that,
that shift. Mm-Hmm .
in our localeconomy where we didn't have,
we don't have all our eggs inone industry basket. It's, it's
been really spread out, whichhas been nice to see . Uh ,

Speaker 1 (22:18):
It's noticeable.
What , what , what do you thinkgot that ball rolling? What do
you, how do you think thathappened?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Well, you know, I think a lot of it was
leadership. You know , um, Iwill tell you , Greg Caton ,
city manager , um, when he gothere, he did an amazing job of
really investing in this cityand really , um, putting a
mindset together on, on thatgrowth. Mm-Hmm.
and investing in ourselves andbetting on ourselves, and then

(22:45):
the outdoor manufacturing andthen outdoor industries has
really helped that a ton. Yeah.
Um, and, you know, I think ,uh, grand Junction always kind
of used to be this , um, let'skeep taxes low, let's, you
know, ver and we we're notseeing that as much. We're
seeing more , um, let's figureout how we can expand, let's
figure out how we can attract.

(23:06):
Um, but doing it in the rightway, it's not just a , not
quantity, it's definitely aquality aspect of it too. And I
think you're seeing the resultsof that. Yeah. Right. So I
think just , um, just theleadership and the buy-in that
we've seen across the community, um, saying we have to make a
change, you know, and it tookso long to dig ourselves out of
that great recession. Yeah. Um,and I think everyone's well

(23:28):
aware of that and, and nobodywants to go back to that. So
how do we continue todiversify? And we've done a
really good job of it.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Mm-Hmm.
, I , I feel likewe need to have a sign at the
county line, you know, thatsays like, this is a great
place to, to bring yourbusiness. Here's the address of
GEP . Give us a call. Yeah ,yeah. You know, 'cause we, like
you said , uh, when you'retalking to Goose Gear , oh, we,
we've driven through GrandJunction a number of times and
we we hear that a lot. Yep .

(23:54):
Oh, I've driven through, butI've never stopped. You don't
know what you're missing.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
Right. Yeah . Well, and, and, you know, it's good
and bad having the interstaterun through Grand Junction.
It's great from, you know, a ,a freight standpoint, but also
people say, oh yeah, I've beenthrough Grand Junction. Well,
not really. Mm-Hmm.
, you drove onthe interstate that went
through a Grand Junction, butyou haven't actually been to
Grand Junction. Mm-Hmm .
, if you did, youwould remember. Yeah . You
would know. Right. And so Ithink that was kind of the case

(24:17):
with Goose Gear when they gothere. Um, I'll tell you what,
they, they love Kiln coffee, . They spend
all their time at Kiln Coffee.
And that's something, you know,they never would've known if
Yeah . If we didn't bring 'emin. And , um, yeah. So that's
the , if you ever want to , ifyou ever want to go talk to
some Goose Gear reps, kilncoffee, they'll be there. Okay.
,

Speaker 1 (24:36):
I know to take them . Yep . Curtis, what do you
think are the biggestchallenges facing Grand
Junction in bringing newcompanies here?

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah. You know, workforce is, is a challenge.
And that's not just in MesaCounty. Mm-Hmm. ,
that's across the board. And,you know, it, it really coming
outta the pandemic, it seemed,you know, there was mass
layoffs, and then it was alittle bit of a knee jerk
reaction. Then it was like,okay, come on back. And then
there was nobody there to takethose jobs. Mm-Hmm.

(25:08):
. And so we'vestill have been digging
ourselves outta that, thatemployee shortage for , and
we're still continuing to dothat.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Every, every sector is feeling that, would you

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Say? Yep . Most, most sectors, absolutely.
Mm-Hmm . , infact , um, I did the keynote
address at the Workforce Summit, um, first annual Workforce
Summit a few weeks ago, and Idid some live polling. And I
asked the question, are you,would you consider your
organization understaffed,fully staffed overstaffed and
overwhelming understaffedreally still. So, yeah. So we
still see, we still see that.

(25:39):
And, you know, I think a lot,we, we, we are in a little bit
of a , uh, identity crisis, orare we a rural area? Are we
urban? You know what I mean?
Yeah . And , and a lot ofpeople think Grand Junction,
Mesa County is rural, reallyrural, and it's really not the
case. If you look at ourinfrastructure, you look at our
workforce, you look at ouruniversity, it , you know, and

(26:01):
so being able to dispel that alittle bit, oh, I don't think,
you know, our company would beable to, to do business there
because you're so, you're ,you're more rural. There's not,
there's nobody there. Well ,just let us convince you
otherwise. And then oncethey're there, it's a much
easier sell . Um, but those aresome things I think we're up
against, but it's, it's nothingthat, that we can't overcome.

(26:22):
Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
And GEP works countywide. Correct? Correct.
So , um, you're promoting thebusiness park in Fruita as well
as down here and, and Palisadeall the way across the county.
What about some of the othercommunities surrounding us that
are competing for these samebusinesses? I know Montrose has
a business park and loves theoutdoor recreation companies
too. Yeah. How hard is that to,to you wanna work together with

(26:47):
those communities? Right . It'sa win for all of us if we bring
'em to the Western slope, but ,um, there's also some
competition there.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
Yeah. Uh , I completely agree. I, I feel
like what's good for Montroseis good for Grand Junction,
what's good for GrandJunctions, good for Montrose.
But there is times where, youknow, we do come into this
competitive realm and , um,I've done , I've tried my best
to keep an open line ofcommunication open with the
Colorado Outdoors , uh, staffover there in Montrose and

(27:13):
saying, you know, what makessense for you? What are you
guys looking for? Here's whatwe're looking for. And having
those conversations. Um, andthat, and that's helped a ton.
Really, it has and helps us topartner more than compete.
Mm-Hmm. . And ,um, so that's been, that's been
super helpful. But, you know, Ithink there's a, a special type
of business that fits Montrose, um, and special type of

(27:34):
business that fits the GrandJunction area in Mesa County.
And I do think there are somedifferences there that allow us
to collaborate better versuscompete. Mm-Hmm.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
, I'm sure there's just a, it's a
different community and Yeah .
And , um, they have different ,uh, airport service than we do.
Sure . And they don't have I70, but you know, they have,
well, I don't know. I haven'tchecked into their
their business situation downthere. I don't know a whole lot

(28:02):
about Montrose, but , um, uh,let's talk a a little bit more
about Workforce, since you havesuch a , um, a background in
that. Um, what are theorganizations in Mesa County
doing to help with theworkforce? I know , um, as I
just finished , um, a four yearterm on the board of directors
for the Chamber of Commerce,that they have a hand in , uh,

(28:25):
workforce very concerned abouthow that affects the businesses
in Grand Junction. And then ofcourse we have CMU Tech Yep .
And CMU , um, how are all thoseorganizations working together
to ensure the continuedstrength of our workforce here?

Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah. So one thing we do really well from a
workforce perspective iscollaborate. So just like
economic development, workforcedevelopment, it's a team sport.
Mm-Hmm . where noone's gonna solve it
themselves. Right . And there'sdifferent steps for different
walks of life and, anddifferent seasons. And so, you
know, I , the Workforce Centerdoes an amazing job with,

(28:59):
on-the-job trainings andinternships and job readiness.
And they have funding to payfor a lot of trainings, but
they're not the trainingprovider. And that's important
to know, because we don't want,the Workforce Center doesn't
need to be the trainingprovider because you have CMU,
right ? You have CMU Tech, samewith the Chamber. They do a
great job and are reallystarting to hone in their
skills when it comes to , uh,work experiences. Mm-Hmm.

(29:22):
and , and jobtrainings, but they're not the
provider. Right? Right. And sobeing able to help fill that
pipeline and grow that pipelinefor CMU and for CMU Tech and
vice versa. So CMU and CMU Techcan fill that pipeline for you
as a business. Right. So whenyou do have an opening, you're
able to fill it quickly with aquality job seeker , um, is

(29:43):
huge. And so it , it's acollective effort. And, you
know , uh, fruit and Palisade,their chambers are also doing
an incredible job when it comesto workforce development. And
for such small chambers, man,they, they pack a big punch
with what they , they're ableto do. Yeah, for

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Sure. So Curtis, for the consumers that don't know
how they can utilize theWorkforce center Mm-Hmm .
for eitherconsumers, like a , a worker
looking for a job or anemployee or , uh, a business
owner that is looking forworkforce, how do they use the
Workforce Center?

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah. So the Workforce Center also has a , a
really good website that hasall their services and programs
listed. And, you know, so ifjust a few of the services that
the Workforce Center offersthat businesses might not know,
you know, Mesa County is madeup of a ton of small
businesses. And so your CEO isalso your CFO and your COO and

(30:36):
your HR director and your itand the janitor. Right. So they
don't have a ton of time towrite a job description. The
Workforce Center will do thatfor you. Or if you know, you're
not quite sure where to postit, the Workforce Center will
do that for you. Or if you'relooking to do a hiring event,
which is you come in theWorkforce Center , uh, markets
recruits and facilitates thewhole event, and you're just

(30:58):
there to interview the peoplethat they have selected for
you, great. The WorkforceCenter will do that for you .
And then on the, on-the-jobtraining internship piece, so
the , the Workforce center willcover between 50 and 75% of the
wages while you train yourintern or your on the job
training candidate. Um, andit's usually two to three
months, they'll pay up to$5,500 per new employee, and

(31:19):
then hopefully they become yourpermanent employee at the end
of that work experience. Um,but if not, that's okay too.
It's, you know, not everybodyfits everywhere, so, yeah . Um,
but it's a really good costsavings tool as well as a
retention tool. And so anybodycan visit the, the website,
it's mcwc us and , uh, all ofthose programs are listed there

(31:42):
as well as contact information.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Wonderful. Mm-Hmm.
, thank you forthat. So , um, what do you see
on the horizon for GEP ? Um,what are you, what are you
working on now? I'm sure peoplealways want you to release a
little bit of information.
Yeah. And we know you have ,you have to keep things under
wraps, but do you have somethings in the pipeline right
now, or is things you'reexcited about? And, and what
does the rest of 2024 look likefor you ? I know we're just in

(32:06):
February, but Yeah,

Speaker 2 (32:07):
It's very optimistic. Mm-Hmm .
about 2024. Um,we've already seen more
activity in 2024 , uh, thisearly on than we did in 22 or
23. And, you know, it feelslike businesses are getting a
little bit more acclimated orused to this new , um, market,
whether it be a little bithigher interest rates, we're
still seeing Mm-Hmm .

(32:28):
building costsbeing pretty high. So we're not
seeing a ton of, of new builds,but the activity has been
really big. And, and so , um,we had our first one with Goose
Gear . We're getting ready toannounce our second win , um,
here Great . Soon, which is aninternational company , um,
that's gonna be doing businessin, in Mesa County, which is
great news. Um, we also have,you know, some bigger , um,

(32:51):
very well known companies that,that are investing in, in the
Grand Junction area. And , um,so we are very excited about
the continued growth , um,thoughtful growth of Mesa
County as a whole. And , um, Ithink 2024 is gonna be a
special year.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
I think so too.
We're super optimistic on thereal estate side. We just need
those interest rates to comedown a little bit. Yes . And
it's really gonna break thingsopen. I think one of the
challenges that we're seeing isthat sellers don't want to
sell. Yeah . 'cause theirinterest rates on their
mortgages are so low. Yep . Andso not sure what that, that ,
uh, Delta is, you know, how,what's the delta between the
interest rate you've got nowand the one Yeah . That you

(33:29):
could get if you had to buyanother home. Um, so, you know
, if we get under six, it'sgonna be crazy around here
again. Yes . But yeah , I , Iknow , I would love to see that
the , you know, I know that thehousing affects companies that
are thinking about coming heretoo. Yes . Is that a
conversation you have withevery company that you
interview?

Speaker 2 (33:48):
It is. Mm-Hmm.
. Yeah. You know,cost of living used to be a big
strength of ours. Mm-Hmm.
, it's not somuch anymore. And so you , you
, but you take , it's all aboutperspective. You look at Goose
gear coming from HuntingtonBeach, not once have they
mentioned . Right. Costof living. Right . Cost

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Of living seems great to them . Yeah .

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Yeah . Cost living seems great to them . But you
know, on the, our our currentemployer base and some of our
big employers, we're havingvery , um, serious
conversations about cost ofliving and, and housing
specifically. Mm-Hmm .
for theiremployees. And, and these are
very well paid employees whocan't either afford a house or

(34:25):
can't find a place to live. Andso there's a lot of
multi-family coming online.
Yes. Which will be superhelpful. I

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Think so too.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Um, but at the same time that's, it's, it's not
necessarily workforce housingor, or affordable housing. It's
still quite costly. And , um,so it is a real concern when it
comes to cost of living hereand , um, something that we, we
gotta get under control.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
I do think though, that all the, the multifamily
and the apartments especiallyare gonna be a big help because
it's a product that we haven'treally had in our market for a
long time, at least not in alarge number. Yep . Uh , and to
see the projects that have beenbuilt in the last couple years,
filling up so quickly is agreat sign. And I think that
we're excited on the realestate sales side to see , um,

(35:09):
you know, people getting into,people being able to come to
our community kind of as astarter. Yeah . You know, like,
let's go check Grand Junctionout. Yeah . And , uh, if we can
get into a modest apartment,then we can get a job and see
how we like it. And Yeah . Ithink it's gonna allow more
people to come here. Um, therental market's been super
tight over the last couple ofyears. It has . So it's been
challenging. So,

Speaker 2 (35:29):
You know what's interesting too about the
multifamily that's going up, Idon't think you'll find better
views. Right. Anywhere that , Imean, like, these are these ,
uh, complexes that are beingput up and the locations that
were made available to them. Imean, the views are insane.
Like you , you know, some ofthe stuff at Do Rios and , uh,
over here at, you know, LosColonial and downtown, I mean,

(35:50):
you got the monument, you gotMount Garfield, you got Grand
Mesa. It's just, I , yeah. It'sawesome.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
And my kids went to Wingate and , uh, first day of
school and I would always takea picture and post it on social
media and my friends fromaround the country, like,
that's your Yeah . Your school . Yeah . Look at that
view and it , you kind offorget. Yeah . You

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Forget it . Yeah .

Speaker 1 (36:08):
It's really nice.
Yeah .

Speaker 2 (36:09):
I guess that is nice. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Well, Curtis, thank you for being here today. Is
there anything else you'd liketo share about , uh, GEP or
economic outlook for GrandJunction?

Speaker 2 (36:18):
You know, I appreciate the time and, and ,
um, if, you know, really whenit comes to a resilient
economy, we have to be adiverse, a diversified economy
and Mm-Hmm. andthat's what we're trying to do
at GEP. And , um, you know, I ,I definitely want people to
know that we are verythoughtful with, with who
we're, we're hoarding. Um, andwe wanna interview them to make

(36:41):
sure we're a good fit for themjust as well as they're a good
fit for us. Mm-Hmm.
. And so that'sreally what we're trying to do.
And, and one other thing too,when we talk about incentives
and, and I mentioned GooseGears incentives, all our
incentives are performancebased , you know, so it never ,
are we giving a company cash tomove here? Mm-Hmm.
, we , we wouldnot do that, we would never do
that. It has to be performancebased . So it's based off of

(37:03):
the number of jobs and how longyou retain those jobs. And ,
and that's really important toknow , um, if you're, if you're
not familiar with, with the GEPand what we do and, and how we
do it, we wanna be veryselective with who we are
bringing over into the area.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
Well, Curtis , um, congratulations on all the wins
that you've had in the lastcouple of years and best of
luck in 2024. And it's gonna bea great year for Mesa County,
not only in the economy, butjust , um, bringing new talent,
bringing new life to thecommunity every day . I think
what you do all what you all dois amazing.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
So . Well, thank you. Really appreciate it. It's
uh, definitely something I'mpassionate about and , um, love
it.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
It shows. Thank you . It really shows. Thank you.
Alright everybody, this isChristie Reese signing off with
their full Circle podcast.
We'll see you next time.
Thanks. Thanks for listening.
This is Kristy Reese signingout from the Full Circle
Podcast .