In December 2003, amid struggles to attract new business to the Denver metro area, the city’s primary economic development organization relaunched under a new name and structure.
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. set a fundraising goal of $12.5 million from the business community to go toward creating 100,000 new jobs in metro Denver and northern Colorado within five years.
It exceeded the fundraising goal, and by the middle of 2008, metro Denver and northern Colorado had added about 140,000 jobs.
But since then, that same region has shed more than 100,000 positions, leaving a seasonally adjusted gain of about 35,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And with the state reeling from the loss of several major corporate headquarters, some local officials say Colorado’s economic development structure — one in which the Metro Denver EDC plays a key role — could use another update.
The Metro Denver EDC is an affiliate of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, a business advocacy group. It replaced the Metro Denver Network, which was a program within the chamber.
In 2007, the DIA Partnership folded into the Metro Denver EDC, whose membership includes 70 counties, cities and development organizations. The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade is a member.
The Metro Denver EDC has an annual budget of about $3 million and a staff of 10, said executive vice president Tom Clark. Investors include Wells Fargo Bank, Xcel Energy, Ball Corp., the city and county of Denver and numerous other businesses and organizations.
“We probably have not been as good at communicating to our local audience about what we’re doing,” Clark said. “We all pledged to one another we would do a better job of communicating with our boards about what’s going on and what we’re trying to do to get the economy going again.”
The group’s primary role is to promote Colorado and the Front Range, identify relocation and expansion prospects and funnel them to respective municipalities and local development organizations.
“The Metro Denver EDC has done a noble job of trying to unify the voice of metro Denver,” said John Brackney, president of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce.
Brackney, though, acknowledged that he was kept in the dark about efforts to keep First Data Corp.’s headquarters in Greenwood Village while the company worked with Clark and the state on potential incentives. He wonders whether he could have brought something to the negotiating table.
First Data chose to move its headquarters to Atlanta in 2009.
