Grand and Clear Creek County Economic Resurgence and Resiliency Plan

Mass Economics and Innovation Economy Partners created an economic resurgence and resiliency plan to ensure long-term sustainability of Colorado’s neighboring Grand and Clear Creek counties. The project encompassed four major stages. First, information gathering, including an extensive economic analysis of the two counties, interviews with local stakeholders, and a literature review. Following this quantitative and qualitative research, the team performed analysis and hypothesis generation, evaluating the data to determine themes and patterns and developing a fiscal modeling tool to quantify opportunities. With these initial hypotheses, the team conducted further roundtables and interviews to confirm and deepen the findings. Finally, the team developed in-depth recommendations and implementation strategies for the two counties.

The team created unique recommendations and implementation plans to meet the identified needs of each county. Recommendations were focused on five strategic areas: industry cluster development, workforce, infrastructure, local ecology, and fiscal planning. For example, in Clear Creek County an impending mine closure necessitated strengthening the tourism and recreation industry, finding ways to leverage existing extraction industry assets to support other local industries, and developing new economic assets. In Grand County, unique recommendations included strengthening the lumber cluster and diversifying local industries, developing fast and reliable broadband, and forming an economic governance council. To accompany the recommendations, the team offered detailed implementation plans as well as case-studies and supporting references and resources.