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| Wilson Announces $300,000 for Next Generation Economy Community Reuse Organization |
July 30, 2002 |
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| Washington, DC - Congresswoman Heather Wilson announced today that the Next Generation Economy (NextGen) community reuse organization (CRO) has been awarded a $300,000 block grant by the Office of Worker and Community Transition to fund its administrative expenses. The NextGen Initiative has created or retained 594 new economy jobs, and it is estimate that 2,010 jobs will be created or retained by 2005.
“The Next Generation Economy Initiative is an innovative approach to growing and protecting jobs in New Mexico,” said Wilson. “This funding will help the project move forward and make a real difference for New Mexico’s economy.”
NextGen was recognized as a community reuse organization (CRO) by the Department of Energy (DOE) in September 2000 to assist the Central New Mexico. NextGen’s mission is to diversify the regional economy, increase the number of quality jobs in the region and the state, and reduce the region’s economic dependence on the federal government.
This block grant will be used to cover costs associated with maintaining NextGen as a community-based economic development organization. NextGen will work for a stronger, export-based private sector which requires skill sets consistent with the current technology-based DOE work force to enable dislocated DOE workers to be more easily absorbed into the community. NextGen projects include a Microsystems Fabrication Facility, Cluster Research for job creation, and a Web-Based Database for workforce development.
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