YOUR AD HERE »

Vail Valley Partnership column: Identifying hurdles to economic resiliency

Economic vitality and community resilience are team efforts. Local businesses, governments and residents must all play active roles in positively influencing economic change. Our challenges today are: workforce housing, transportation and creating a year-round economy.

The Eagle County Economic Development Plan serves as the local roadmap toward long-term economic vitality. The plan is founded upon a guiding principle of “community sustainability” in the pursuit of our economic development objectives.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Business Research Division of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, State Demography Office, partnered on an economic resiliency study of Colorado rural communities to understand what makes some communities in Colorado thrive while others fail to retain population and sustain economic growth.



This report details primary research garnered through focus groups in select counties located on the Eastern Plains, Mountain Region and Western Slope.

Our most daunting issue is housing availability and supply. In order to build more economic diversity within a rural county, multiple focus group participants stated the need to grow existing small businesses and attract other businesses to the community.

Support Local Journalism



Learn more from State Demographer Elizabeth Garner on Wednesday at our Vail Valley Business Forum program. See complete details and RSVP at vailvalleypartnership.com.

Chris Romer is president and CEO of the Vail Valley Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce. Learn more at http://www.vailvalleypartnership.com.


Support Local Journalism