<\/p>\n
Next week, the Montezuma Community Economic Development Association will host a regional economic summit designed to strengthen local businesses in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n
The all-day event starts at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and will feature speakers from some of Montezuma County\u2019s most prominent businesses, as well as a presentation from Ted Howard, president of the national research organization Democracy Collaborative<\/a>. It will include several breakout sessions, all focused on the theme \u201cMaking Local Work.\u201d MCEDA has held economic summits in the past, but organizers are hoping this year\u2019s event will draw a larger crowd and lead to more collaboration with locally owned businesses outside Montezuma County.<\/p>\n MCEDA member Leila Hanson said the group wanted to have local speakers with expertise in art, agriculture and business in order to make the event relevant to as many people as possible. The summit\u2019s main goal, she said, is to encourage both businesses and consumers to spend their money locally instead of with big international companies like Amazon.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s probably a good time for us to be thinking this way,\u201d she said. \u201c(Amazon) makes life simple, but we\u2019re seeing that the models are affecting our community culturally.\u201d<\/p>\n Partnerships between people in different areas of Southwest Colorado can help local businesses thrive, she said.<\/p>\n MCEDA has asked local business owners and members of the Mancos Creative District and the Durango-based group Local First<\/a> to speak at the summit about how their organizations have become successful and how they plan to support one another for the whole region\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n In his keynote speech, Howard will talk about \u201ccommunity wealth building,\u201d an economic model designed to help businesses and institutions, particularly large employers like banks and hospitals, improve the quality of life in their regions by using local resources. He has given similar presentations across the U.S. and in Europe.<\/p>\n The event will also include a morning panel with the owners of Montezuma County businesses such as the Four Seasons Greenhouse and The Farm Bistro, and three breakout sessions led by Howard, Sarah Syverson of the Mancos Creative District, Laurie Hall of The Farm Bistro and Monique DiGiorgio of Local First.<\/p>\n JoDee Powers, MCEDA\u2019s economic development specialist, said she wants the summit to build on what Montezuma County\u2019s businesses have already achieved.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognize that Montezuma County has made significant strides in thinking locally,\u201d she said. \u201cNow we want to see what has been successful. What initiatives work? How can they be mimicked somewhere else?\u201d<\/p>\n Hanson said about 60 people have registered for the summit, but she emphasized that its location, the Cortez Conference Center in Holiday Inn, can hold many more.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the more the merrier,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said she hopes next week\u2019s event will help \u201cput (MCEDA) on the map\u201d for business owners and organizations from outside Montezuma County. She and Powers plan to turn future economic summits into regional events, drawing guests from throughout the Four Corners.<\/p>\n For those hoping to attend this year\u2019s summit, though, time is running out to purchase tickets. Hanson said guests must be registered by Monday. Tickets are available on MCEDA\u2019s website<\/a> under the \u201cEvents\u201d tab.<\/p>\n What: aims to bring local businesses together<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[431,21,374,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-business-general","tag-cortez","tag-economic-development","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100307"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}If you go<\/h4>\n
\n MCEDA Regional Economic Summit
\n When:<\/strong>
\n 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 25
\n Where:<\/strong>
\n Cortez Conference Room in Holiday Inn, 2121 E. Main St.
\n Cost:<\/strong>
\n $60 for MCEDA investors and community partners, $70 for the general public
\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Go to
\n www.montezumaceda.org<\/a>
\n and click on \u201cEvents,\u201d or contact JoDee Powers at 970-560-5581 or info@montezumaceda.org<\/a>. Tickets available online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"