June 20, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourarvadanews.com
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 9, Issue 4
EDC aims to create jobs New economic development initiative ‘Forward Jeffco’ launched By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
Amy Fire with the Personal Benefit Services Wealth Management team works on carving a tree out of sand for the team’s Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge sculpture at the inaugural Sand in the City festival June 14. Photos by Sara Van Cleve
A day at the beach
Sand in the City festival includes sand sculpting contest, entertainment and more By Sara Van Cleve
svancleve@ourcoloradonews.com
T
he Arvada Chamber of Commerce hosted the inaugural Sand in the City festival June 14-15 outside of the Arvada Center. Sand in the City is a sand sculpting competition and Arvada is the only city in the metro area to host such an event. Teams comprised of residents, businesses and community leaders created sculptures out of sand, from a classic car and Lloyd King, founder of King Soopers, to sunbathing bears and minions from “Despicable Me.” A panel of judges, including Mayor Marc Williams, council members, Ms. Colorado Senior Debbie Buczkowski, 9News’ Gregg Moss and others, decided the winners of the sand sculpting competition. Apex Park and Recreation District took second runner-up with their classic hot rod sculpture; Personal Benefit Service Wealth Management and the Arvada Young Professionals were named runnerup for their sandy depiction of Two Pond National Wildlife Refuge; and ERA Waters took first with their “Parts per Minion” sculpture featuring the characters of “De-
A team from ERA, a waters company in Golden, created the “Parts per Minion” sand sculpture featuring Minions from the movie “Despicable Me” during the inaugural Sand in the City Festival outside of the Arvada Center June 14-15. A panel of judges awarded the family-friendly sculpture first place. spicable Me.” Local sculptor David Mitchell won the People’s Choice award for his dolphin sculpture.
Ellie Francis, 2, plays in a giant sandbox outside of the Arvada Center during the inaugural Sand in the City festival June 14.
The event also included a buried treasure sand pit for children, a giant sand box for children to play in, beach volleyball, inflatables and food.
A team with Apex Park and Recreation District sculpted a hot rod out of sand on June 14 during the inaugural Sand in the City festival outside of the Arvada Center. The hot rod was awarded second runner-up by the judges.
Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation launched a new initiative last week — “Forward Jeffco” — with the goal of creating 7,500 new jobs in the county. To accomplish that level of economic development, the EDC is attempting to raise $3.9 million in additional revenue from government and business sponsors. In 2012, Jeffco EDC had an operating budget of about $900,000 and claimed 860 jobs created or retained. The official kick-off, which comes after months of behind-the-scenes sponsorship discussions, was June 11 at the MillerCoors Golden Brewery. Jeffco EDC board chair Fred Baker started the presentation, saying that the corporation’s last five-year-plan lacked a lot needed funding. “What we were able to do this time is take a more intelligent approach,” Baker said. Forward Jeffco has five listed strategic components: • More aggressive targeting of companies in desired industries; • Create new jobs by helping existing businesses grow; • Stimulate new business, including small and home-based businesses, by pulling together entrepreneur resources; • Identify and satisfy workforce development needs; • Aggressively advocate for business at all levels of government. According to Jeffco EDC CEO Kevin McCasky, part of the additional funds will quickly go to hiring another staff member to travel nationally, and internationally, to market the county to businesses in “identified cluster markets” that he hopes to bring in. Those cluster markets include aerospace/aviation, energy, bioscience, enabling technologies, and consumer products and creative services. More than $2 million of the Forward Jeffco monetary goal has been reached with contributions from about 25 sources, according to McCasky. Contributors include the City of Lakewood, Exempla Lutheran Medical Center, Xcel Energy, Lockheed Martin, and Jefferson County Public Schools. Arvada Mayor Marc Williams said he was proud that his city and city council had been among the first to pledge their support for the initiative, providing up to $50,000 a year, for the next five years. “It’s needed to raise the bar, so that we can attain the primary jobs and the economic development that this county needs and deserves,” Williams said. The Jeffco EDC has traditionally been funded 50/50 by government and business sources. Williams said that part of the Jeffco Forward initiative would be to shift that ratio, so that the business community would fund 70 percent, which had been accomplished for the Arvada area.
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