Albuquerque, NM – June 16, 2014 UNM’s second annual survey on its economic development progress is now available to the business community for feedback to assist university in formulating its goals and priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. Last year’s survey led to valuable suggestions for small business development and community partnerships to spur economic development. The survey takes only a few minutes to fill out at https://stc.unm.edu/survey. To read more about last year’s results, see Karen Wentworth’s June 13, 2014 article, “Survey to Gauge UNM’s Economic Development Activities,” from UNM Newsroom, reprinted below.
Survey to gauge UNM’s economic development activities
Community encouraged to participate
When UNM began to focus on economic development, there was a promise to monitor progress. Now, a survey to help measure public perception and prioritize issues for the coming year has been developed.
“UNM is committed to being a contributor to renewing and expanding the economy for the central Rio Grande region and the state of New Mexico,” UNM President Robert Frank said.
This short survey, which will take only a few minutes, is a mile marker of UNM’s efforts to date.
The baseline survey, which was taken last year, helped UNM to determine goals and benchmarks for economic development. “It’s very important for us to get as much response from the business community as possible, because we are using this instrument to make important decisions,” said UNM’s Chief Economic Development Officer Lisa Kuuttila.
Results from the survey taken in 2013 showed that UNM needed to enhance small business development with supportive programs such as seed funding, incubators and technical assistance. UNM now has several programs underway to promote small business development.
The survey also showed that UNM should seek partnerships with government at federal, state and local levels to create and attract new businesses. The process to purchase the old First Baptist Church property at Central and Broadway is nearing completion. The purchase combines contributions from the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union and UNM. As the property becomes available for development, UNM hopes to bring in new partners to continue the process of providing a physical place for Innovate ABQ and the community effort to create an innovation district in the central Rio Grande region and the state of New Mexico.
The survey closes at the end of June.
Source: UNM Newsroom
For more information, contact:
Karen Wentworth
kwent2@unm.edu