Longmont EDP announces ELEVATE Longmont

LONGMONT — The Longmont Economic Development Partnership has renamed its volunteer Existing Business Committee to ELEVATE Longmont, and has added responsibilities to its members to provide more information to local businesses on the services the partnership offers.

ELEVATE is an acronym for engage, listen, educate, value, acknowledge, tell the story and execute.

The volunteer committee for the past 26 years has conducted annual business outreach visits to primary employers to identify trends, gather strategic intelligence, address concerns, identify new opportunities and offer support. For this year, in addition to surveying businesses, ELEVATE Longmont volunteers have been trained to educate companies about resources available through the Longmont EDP, and to listen for opportunities for the Longmont EDP to help businesses.

ELEVATE Longmont volunteers will begin contacting employers Jan. 16 to schedule visits for this year’s survey.

Highlights of the primary-industry survey results from last year included:

• Eighty-eight percent of companies anticipate new products being introduced in the next two years.
• More than half of Longmont’s responding companies have expansion plans in the next three years with an estimated 710 new jobs and $111.9 million in capital investment.
• Seventy-one percent of companies stated there are no barriers to growth in Longmont.
• Seventy percent noted that company sales are increasing.

Thirty-one local businesses representing 609 jobs also completed the 2016 survey.  This was the first time that local businesses were included. Highlights of the local businesses surveyed include:

• Surveyed businesses primarily represented the retail, service and restaurant/hospitality industries.
• Sixty-five percent of responding businesses reported gross annual sales between $500,000 and $5 million.
• Eighty-four percent reported that the business is profitable.

“Longmont is fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers who work with businesses to gather the survey information, said Monty Meduna with First National Bank and chairman of the ELEVATE Longmont committee. “This information helps the Longmont EDP and city of Longmont retain and attract businesses that are critical to Longmont’s economic health.”

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