{"id":47677,"date":"2021-03-31T00:55:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T00:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-approved-again-for-rural-jump-start-program\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:39:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:39:44","slug":"cortez-approved-again-for-rural-jump-start-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-approved-again-for-rural-jump-start-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez approved again for Rural Jump-Start Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=58a698da-56fa-400b-97b3-fe3a1aa2049d&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"883\" height=\"442\" alt=\"Cortez has participated in the Rural Jump-Start Program since June 2017.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Cortez has participated in the Rural Jump-Start Program since June 2017.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>Cortez has been reapproved to be a part of the state\u2019s Rural Jump-Start Program in an effort to attract new businesses and jobs to the city.<\/p>\n<p>The idea behind the program is to help rural, economically distressed communities become more attractive for new and relocating businesses.<\/p>\n<p>If a new business in the area meets a specific set of requirements, it can qualify for significant incentive payments and relief from state income, property and sales taxes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think it is an awesome incentive for a business that wants to relocate into Colorado,\u201d said Laura Lewis Marchino, Executive Director of the Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to keep businesses from all going to the Denver area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A qualifying business must be new to the area and \u201cnon-duplicative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This means it must offer a unique product or service.<\/p>\n<p>According to Marchino, the business must also create at least five local jobs that pay an above-average wages.<\/p>\n<p>Cortez <a href=\"https:\/\/oedit.colorado.gov\/rural-jump-start-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">qualifies for the program<\/a> because Montezuma County has been designated by the Colorado Economic Development Commission as \u201ceconomically distressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A county must hit at least three of the commission\u2019s economic distress requirements. Some of these requirements include having a per capita income that\u2019s at least 20% below the state average, having a countywide personal income that\u2019s at least 20% below the state average and an average unemployment level during the past five years that\u2019s at least 20% above the state average.<\/p>\n<p>A business from Cortez can only join the program if it is a unique start-up that meets difficult qualifications.<\/p>\n<p>Cortez first joined the program in June 2017. It will now participate for another five years, according to Marchino.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/the-journal.com\/articles\/198767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mancos<\/a> and Dolores recently joined the program, opting in within the last six months.<\/p>\n<p>So far, the program has struggled to bring any new businesses to the region.<\/p>\n<p>According to Marchino, the coronavirus pandemic has hampered active recruitment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not seeing a lot of unique businesses come into the area,\u201d Marchino said.<\/p>\n<p>While many remote workers have been moving, businesses have not done the same.<\/p>\n<p>The program has seen some success around Grand Junction and Montrose.<\/p>\n<p>According to Marchino, one business is considering using the program in Archuleta County.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:anicotera@the-journal.com\">anicotera@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>County\u2019s struggle to attract new, unique businesses continues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,60],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-47677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47677","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=47677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87230,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47677\/revisions\/87230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47677"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=47677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}