Business Entrepreneurial Opportunities Abound

Opportunities abound for business entrepreneurs between the inaugural American Indian Business Enterprise cohort at San Juan College and a culinary entrepreneurship workshop. San Juan Regional Medical Center discussed the results of its community health needs survey on Thursday, June 15th. We are committed to focusing on three key areas: access to healthcare, diabetes, and cancer based on the results. You're watching the "Local News Roundup," brought to you by Ace Hardware of Farmington and Traegers Bar. I'm Hayley Opsal. In November 2022, San Juan College, in partnership with New Mexico State University's American Indian Business Enterprise Center, received a $900,000 grant from the United States Department of the Interior's Office of Indian Development for a program designed to assist native entrepreneurs. The grant is targeted at entrepreneurs from the Jicarilla Apache, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, and Southern Ute nations. The program will be run through the San Juan College Quality Center for Business with the aim of assisting 60 native entrepreneurs over the next three years, three cohorts of 20 people. If the program is successful, the grant will be extended for another three years and another $900,000. San Juan College is currently looking for 20 native entrepreneurs to join the first cohort. Participants will be able to take advantage of resources from San Juan College Enterprise Center, such as access to incubator space, software, conference rooms, membership to the Big Idea Makerspace at San Juan College, training and financial management and marketing, and one-on-one advising and mentorship. At a public input meeting on June 15th, San Juan Regional Medical Center CEO Jason Rounds and Bruce Lockwood of PRC Custom Research of the Omaha presented the research of the community's health needs survey, which will help SJRMC dictate priority services for the next three years. The survey gathered data from the mix of US Census Bureau and public health resources and online survey of physicians, business leaders, healthcare and social service providers, and a phone survey of 250 San Juan County residents representative of the county's demographic in terms of gender, race, income, age, and other factors. The survey showed that San Juan County's death rate from unintended injuries, violent crime rate, homicide, overweight and obese individuals, prevalence of diabetes, teen birth rate, sexually transmitted diseases, alcohol-related deaths, and others ranked higher than both state and national rates. But despite the less than positive showings, Rounds said he was encouraged by the survey results, especially those that showed a precipitous drop in the number of adults lacking healthcare coverage. SJRMC used the results from the survey to create three key priority focus for the next three years for community health needs to address the topics of concern from the survey. Access to healthcare, diabetes, and cancer will be the main focus points for SJRMC, with the aim of including more outreach on other topics as needed. Find the full results from the survey online at San Juan Regional Medical Center's website. The Street Food Institute invites aspiring food business entrepreneurs to a culinary entrepreneurship workshop. The workshop is free to all who register and will be held at Farmington Municipal Schools' Career and Technology Center. Registrants can expect hands-on training by experienced chefs, networking opportunities, and presentations covering what you will need to get started with your own business. Registration closes Monday, July 24th, so make sure to sign up now. Learn more about these and other stories online at farmingtonlocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the "Local News Roundup." I'm Hayley Opsal.