In April 2022, UNM Rainforest Innovations was awarded an $800,000 American Rescue Plan Economic Adjustment Assistance grant from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help break down barriers and generate opportunity through entrepreneurship in historically underserved communities in New Mexico with a primary focus on coal-impacted tribal communities. Over the past 3 years, the funding has been primarily used to hire a Program Manager and Tribal Liaisons to identify gaps and barriers for entrepreneurship and to foster engagement within the communities. As of this year, 2025, the program has identified these gaps, needs, and barriers and compiled them into a discovery report which was presented to the public at the Lobo Rainforest Building on April 24th at the program’s Showcase and Celebration. In addition to the report and discovery, the program has engaged with multiple communities, countless entrepreneurs, connected many nodes within New Mexico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem that may have otherwise never met, and had an impact far beyond the program’s original vision.
While the original goals of the program have been reached and the program’s three year budget has been utilized in accordance with the proposed plan, the discovery report shows that much work still needs to be done to continue supporting entrepreneurs in New Mexico’s tribal and coal impacted communities. This includes an ongoing need for support of navigator and “boots on the ground roles” such as those of the tribal liaisons. With the budget from the current grant funding coming to a close, UNM Rainforest Innovations has developed a transition plan that pivots this phase of the project, promoting the continuation of the program model and efforts through strategic partnerships. An outline of the transition plan is as follows:
- Tribal Liaisons were funded to contract with UNM Rainforest Innovations until the end of April 2025. Since then several have transitioned into other roles with partner organizations to continue to provide support for Native American and tribal entrepreneurs throughout New Mexico. Additionally, all of them continue to grow and scale their own businesses.
- The Program Manager for NMTEEP will work on transition, reporting, strategic partnerships for continuation of the work, and identifying additional funding opportunities through June 2025.
- As a way to honor the tribal liaisons and showcase the project’s successes, impact, and discovery report, a Showcase and Celebration was held on April 24, 2025 to present the Discovery Report and celebrate the work and accomplishments of the program and its Tribal Liaisons. Recordings from this event can be found on our YouTube channel.
The program will be scaled back until additional funding is identified. The program has set a strong foundation for other programs, organizations, tribes, cities, communities, and ordinances to duplicate. The model set-forth by NMTEEP is an exemplary form of entrepreneurial ecosystem building and grass-roots economic development for rural, tribal, and coal impacted communities that can be duplicated and adapted to serve any community, industry, or sector. Additionally, the discovery report is a key deliverable that will support additional efforts, programming, and job growth for years to come.
In addition to the transition plans listed above, several key partnerships have developed during the time of this project which will allow for the continuation of further developments to support the legacy of NMTEEP and leverage the foundation that the program has set for tribal and coal impacted entrepreneurs and communities:
Collaboration with WESST
In June 2024, UNM Rainforest NMTEEP partnered with WESST to host a Small Business Meet and Greet in Dulce, NM as part of the technical assistance series funded by NMEDD. The Small Business Meet and Greet led to WESST planning and executing 8 additional trainings for entrepreneurs and small business owners in Dulce, NM based on their expressed topics of interest and need for their businesses. In December 2024 UNMRI, WESST, and the Jicarilla Apache Department of Education co-hosted a Holiday Market and Expo at the community center in Dulce where small businesses and entrepreneurs could vend without having to pay a booth fee. This collaboration set a strong foundation and partnership between WESST and UNMRI. In January 2025, after determining the remaining funding and budget for the project would only support the tribal liaison positions through April 2025, the NMTEEP program manager began conversations with leaders from the various WESST offices throughout the state, encouraging them to consider “picking-up” the tribal liaisons as a continuation of aspects of the work set forth by NMTEEP in supporting tribal and Native American entrepreneurs throughout New Mexico.
In March 2025, three UNMRI tribal liaisons signed contracts with WESST to work as contractors/consultants for the WESST Santa Fe, Farmington, and Rio Rancho offices. This will allow them to continue aspects of their tribal liaison duties past the point of current funding from this EDA award, ensuring that the foundation set forth by NMTEEP can be built upon and continue to grow and evolve as needed.
Libraries and Launchpads
In August 2024, UNMRI NMTEEP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Creative Startups to pursue funding to develop and implement the Creative Startups Libraries as Launchpads curriculum in tribal libraries/communities. This addresses some of the needs and barriers identified in the NMTEEP Discovery Report and would help create sustainable entrepreneurial “navigators” and “hubs” in tribal communities through libraries and librarians. In March 2025, Creative Startups Libraries as Launchpads applied for the PINON Digital Equity grant. If the grant is received, UNMRI would consult with Libraries as Launchpad to help network and build-off of current relationships with tribal and coal impacted communities. The grant would also fund “digital navigators” who similarly to the tribal liaisons would serve as navigators and capacity builders to help librarians provide technical assistance, guidance, and navigation to entrepreneurs and small businesses in their communities.
Partnership with City of Santa Fe
In December 2024, UNM Rainforest Innovations (UNMRI) signed an agreement to partner with the City of Santa Fe Office of Economic Development to fund a Tribal Liaison position aimed at supporting tribal entrepreneurs in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. The City of Santa Fe has contracted with UNMRI for $100,962 to support a tribal liaison role specifically focused on the City of Santa Fe and surrounding communities over a period of 2 years. Most of the funds will go towards funding the tribal liaison as a subcontractor with a small budget for travel and UNMRI overhead. In February 2025, UNMRI hired Deborah Torres as the Tribal Liaison for the City of Santa Fe. From the Pueblo of Isleta, but living and working in San Ildefonso Pueblo, Deborah Torres is a dedicated advocate for New Mexico’s tribal communities, with extensive experience in tourism, legislative affairs, and community development. As a leader in Native American tourism initiatives, Deborah has worked closely with tribes to promote cultural preservation, economic growth, and meaningful representation. Deborah is also the owner of Than Povi Art Gallery located in Santa Fe County. This partnership is an example of how the NMTEEP legacy lives on and how other organizations can support and incorporate the model and foundation set forth by NMTEEP into their own organizations and missions to better support and serve the demographics within their jurisdiction, such as tribal and rural small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Native American Veterans
Since April 2023, UNM Rainforest Innovations has partnered with Hesperus to bring an Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Native American Veterans to the Southwest Region of the United States. For the past 2 years, UNM Rainforest Innovations has cohosted this three phase program in partnership with Hesperus to help train Native American Veterans in New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest to start, grow, and scale businesses. UNM Rainforest Innovations and Hesperus will continue with this partnership and host a third cohort of the program this September 2025.
A huge thank you to the U.S. Economic Development Administration for funding the NM Tribal Entrepreneurship Enhancement Program and making the discovery report, outreach, job growth and impact on coal-impacted and tribal entrepreneurs in New Mexico possible.
