The first quarter of this year has been a whirlwind – a period of growth and transformation at NMCC. Our fund will grow by approximately 50% to over $14 million. I am delighted that highly regarded private equity investors have recognized our opportunity. In mid-May our fund will be closed to further investment and NMCC will have created one of the largest inaugural community development investment capital funds in the nation.

With this growth comes new responsibility to be a steward of this capital and to harness it to generate both financial and social returns across New Mexico. The ever-increasing quality of the investment opportunities to which we are exposed is solid evidence of our growing profile.

As we mature, we have an increasing awareness of our obligation to help businesses, especially those in under-served and rural locales, secure growth capital in whatever form is most appropriate for their enterprise. This invariably means an intense, long-term collaboration with local entrepreneurs. I am particularly pleased with the progress our sustainable business service, IMPACT-NM, is making. Two of our clients have been able to secure capital from other sources, in large part because of the capacity-building work we have done.

I hope you have a wonderful Spring and that your allergies are under control!

Best,

Jarratt

NMCC's ability to create social and economic returns has been expanded with a $2MM fund investment in NMCC's equity fund by GKM Newport, an international fund manager. With this investment and an additional investment from the New Mexico Small Business Investment Corporation (NMSBIC), the fund has grown to $11.5MM.

The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, a program of the US Department of the Treasury, recently certified New Mexico Community Capital (NMCC) as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). CDFIs focus their work on helping traditionally underserved or disadvantaged individuals and communities. CDFIs offer things like affordable housing, workforce training and technical assistance, low-interest loans and equity investments to help small companies grow. NMCC is the eighth CDFI in New Mexico and the state’s only community development investment fund.

Andrew Baca, President and CEO of Abba Technologies in Albuquerque was elected to NMCC's board of directors at the first quarter meeting. Mr. Baca has over 22 years of varied technical, sales and executive experience including many years in management with IBM.

We are honored to have a person with Andrew’s depth and range of experience on our board. The quality of the people who govern us is one of the main reasons for our success.—Jarratt Applewhite, NMCC CEO

Click here to read Andrew Baca's biography.

Board elects 2007 officers

The NMCC board of directors elected 2007 officers at its first quarter meeting. Owen Lopez, Executive Director of McCune Charitable Foundation, was elected Chairman. Joining him as new officers are Jacqueline Baca, Secretary, and Richard Harding, Treasurer. Ms. Baca is President and CEO of Bueno Foods in Albuquerque and Mr. Harding is Managing Partner of International Venture Fund, Menlo Park, CA and Santa Fe, NM.

For biographies of NMCC's board of directors, click here.

Summer Intern to join NMCC

Mari Trujillo, a senior at the Uiversity of New Mexico, has been chosen from a pool of applicants to fill NMCC's summer intern position. Her duties will include market research and analysis, due diligence activities, a value-add project for a portfolio company, and assisting Shyla Sheppard, NMCC's Fund Analyst. Mari will begin working for NMCC in late May.

Click here to read Mari's biography.

NMCC's IMPACT-NM Business Services program, which provides a wide range of services to help NM businesses grow, is poised for significant growth in the next few months. A comprehensive business plan was presented to and approved by the board of directors at its first quarter meeting. NMCC will be hiring a new IMPACT-NM Manager.

To read the Executive Summary of the IMPACT-New Mexico Business Plan, click here.

NMCC made us think about everything and challenged almost everything. They said, "You're capable of more and we believe in you." And that's important. It helped us raise the bar for ourselves. —William Slick, Owner

Click here to read how IMPACT-NM Business Services helped this New Mexico business turn around.

NMCC is proud to have a strong working relationships with The Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) and the New Mexico Finance Authority (NMFA).

The Middle Rio Grande region includes Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia Counties. MRCOG provides services that support the fund of community and regional development - employment growth, infrastructure planning and development (i.e., RailRunner, light rail), quality of life (i.e., water resources), planning for the future, and resource management. The MRCOG Agribusiness Collaborative seeks to positively affect agribusiness in the region by addressing sales and production of local agriculture.

Click here for more information about the MRCOG's Agribusiness Collaborative.

The NMFA assists qualified governmental entities with affordable financing of capital equipment and infrastructure projects by providing low-cost funds and technical assistance. The Smart Money Loan Participation program is a financing tool created to stimulate economic development in New Mexico by offering low-cost financing to businesses that create jobs for New Mexicans. By working through local banks, the NMFA is able to invest in New Mexico businesses by purchasing at below market, fixed interest rates up the 49% of a loan originate by the community bank. In doing so, the NMFA shares risk while lowering the overall cost of the borrowing for the business.

Click here to learn more about NMFA's Smart Money Loan Participation program.

www.greentagsusa.org - To reduce the environmental footprint of New Mexico communities, several local non-profits have joined to offer a new program called Green Energy New Mexico. Green Energy New Mexico supports clean, pollution-free energy using Green Tags. Your purchase of Green Tags supports the replacement of traditional polluting energy technologies, including fossil fuel sources, with renewable sources like solar and wind power. To learn more about Green Tags click here to visit the website.

www.newvoiceofbusiness.org - New Voice of Business is a non-partisan, national organization of business people working in collaborative partnerships to develop pragmatic solutions to benefit business, society, and the world. New Voice of Business will strategically focus on Energy, the Economy and the Emerging Role of Business to bring about the tipping point to a more positive future. Click here to visit the New Voice of Business website.