SouthEast Business Partnership Case Study

The I-25 Corridor in Southeast Denver, Colorado, had evolved over the past 20 years into the largest commercial center in the State of Colorado surpassing that of Downtown Denver in employment. It had grown across multiple County lines and included parts of seven City jurisdictions, and is known as an Edge City. This is a city without a central government, and as a result, issues of transportation, housing, workforce development and multiple local governmental policy had not been dealt with proactively. Traffic congestion was the third worst in the Nation. Diversity in the workforce and affordable housing were far below average. Unemployment was slightly over 1%, and labor costs and turnover were rising to non-competitive levels. These issues jeopardized the expansion of the area for local businesses. Recruitment and retention.were becoming negative.

R&M Resource Development in 1998 held a series of focus group meetings in which local private and public leadership were mobilized. A comprehensive proactive program was developed, and a new organization the Southeast Business Partnership was formed to meet these challenges. R&M then assembled over $6,000,000 in five-year funding for the new partnership to implement the new initiative.

The program is underway with significant achievements on all issues. T-REX, a multi-modal transportation solution was begun with Governor Owens backing in the media to pass a bond issue to obtain matching federal funds. RTD began to run bus service to the area in a major way. 10,000 units of affordable housing were built. And, the four major educational institutions in the area to enhance training initiated a coordinated workforce development program. For more information about SEBP visit their Website at http://www.sebp.org/