Cooperative Economic Development Alliance - economic development strategy fo r New Mexico's rural communities - Making the Case for New Mexico's Small Towns

New Mexico Business Journal, Oct, 1993

The Cooperative Economic Development Alliance (CEDA) is helping New Mexico's rural communities enhance their economic development efforts.

The inspiration for CEDA came from the Economic Development Program at Plains Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative, Inc.

Plains Electric is a wholesale supplier of electricity to 13 distribution cooperatives serving New Mexico and Arizona. Generation and transmission cooperatives, like Plains Electric, are unique because they are owned and directed by the members they serve.

Plains Electric's members provide electricity to two-thirds of New Mexico's land area and are headquartered in small rural communities.

The combined service territory of these cooperatives covers an estimated 82,000 square miles of the State of New Mexico.

CEDA's goal is to get these communities talking together, planning together and working together on economic development strategies and initiatives.

CEDA is making headway -- and looking ahead.

As a vehicle to promote rural New Mexico on a regional basis, the CEDA network includes economic development directors from throughout the Plains Electric System's service territory.

CEDA is in the process of expanding its membership, implementing its program of work, and quickly establishing itself as a productive economic development alliance.

CEDA has two major objectives. The first is to encourage companies considering a new location to establish operations in CEDA territory. The second is to assist the existing business community in this region to grow and diversify.

CEDA has developed a comprehensive array of services to assist business and industry.

"The main thrust of CEDA's marketing efforts is to encourage companies to explore business location opportunities in rural New Mexico and to turn those leads into companies that locate here," says Roberto Rios, executive director of the Greater Grants Industrial Development Foundation.

If one area within the CEDA region is eliminated from consideration by a prospect, then the name of the game is to push another locale under the CEDA umbrella.

CEDA also provides an avenue to stretch advertising dollars, according to Dan Graham, executive director of Otero Country Economic Development. "We not only reach more companies by selling rural New Mexico together, but we're able to do it more professionally," says Graham.

"For the first time, you're seeing people in Socorro working with people in Grants, people in Raton working with people in Cloudcroft, to promote rural communities in general across the state," says George Bootes, director of economic development at Plains Electric.

CEDA Services

* Tracking inventory of available commercial/industrial sites and facilities for new or expanding businesses.

* Estimating electricity costs and compiling comparative analyses.

* Serving as a referral source for start-up or established companies requiring technical assistance.

* Researching and publishing economic reports and statistical profiles.

* Counseling companies on business licensing and registration requirements.

* Assisting companies to fulfill planning and permitting requirements by arranging meetings with local, county and state governmental agencies.

* Identifying public and private financing sources to assist companies in establishing operations.

The Plains Electric Cooperative System

Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative, Mountainair

Continental Divide Electric Cooperative, Grants

Columbus Electric Cooperative, Deming

Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, Espanola

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Taos

Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative, Mora

Navopache Electric Cooperative, Lakeside, Arizona

Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative, Chama

Otero County Electric Cooperative, Cloudcroft

Sierra Electric Cooperative, Elephant Butte

Socorro Electric Cooperative, Socorro

Southwestern Electric Cooperative, Clayton

Springer Electric Cooperative, Springer