Rural Opportunity Office
The Rural Opportunity Office supports rural communities across Colorado with a focus on supporting manufacturers. The office consists of three rural opportunity representatives that serve eastern, western, and southern regions. Each representative lives within the region of the state that they support.
The representatives are responsible for:
- overseeing and executing programs such as the Rural Technical Assistance Program
- coordinating rural strategy for their regions
- working with other OEDIT offices including the Small Business Development Center Network, Minority Business Office, and the Colorado Employee Ownership Office
- partnering with Manufacturer's Edge
Rural Programs and Funding
Rural Technical Assistance Program
This program helps rural communities create economic development strategies by providing free technical assistance and consulting services.
Rural Jump-Start Program
This program helps economically distressed communities attract new businesses and jobs.
Enterprise Zone Program
This program encourages development in economically distressed areas of the state through tax incentives.
Location Neutral Employment Community Matching Grant
This grant provides marketing funds to help rural areas attract out-of-state companies to create new jobs in their communities.
Talk to Your Rural Representative
We have three rural representatives who live in the regions that they represent. They work closely with economic development offices in their regions to understand and support the differing needs of each area.
