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Colorado’s West End: Nucla, Naturita, Paradox, Redvale, Bedrock [ Montrose County] | Norwood [ San Miguel County ]

WEEDC is hiring an Office and Grant Administrator!

Office and Grant Administrator Job Description
As part of a regional effort to centralize, coordinate, and enhance grant activity within the region during our transition away from coal, West End Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) and the Towns of Naturita, Norwood, and Nucla are looking for an Office and Grant Administrator to support our team in grant writing, administering grants, and oversee the general administrative functions of WEEDC.

The role of the Office and Grant Administrator is to ensure high levels of organizational effectiveness, communication, key-record keeping and coordination amongst the four organizations as it relates to grant writing and administration and the administration of WEEDC’s functions. The ideal candidate will have a natural flexibility in handling day-to-day routines as well as surprises. The Office and Grant Administrator will provide strong, reliable support for WEEDC operations and regional grant administration.

 

Objectives of this role:

  • Coordinate internal and external resources and cultivate relationships with community and granting partners.

 

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

  • Assist Executive Director and Town Clerks of Naturita, Norwood, and Nucla with grant administration, reporting, and writing, especially as it relates to the community’s transition away from coal.
  • Monitor and communicate deadlines for grants to Executive Director and/or Town Clerks of Naturita, Norwood, Nucla.
  • Maintain accurate records of grant administration and WEEDC operations.
  • Send meeting and event reminders to participants and invitees when identified as appropriate.
  • Coordinate event logistics for meetings with out-of-town attendants as needed.
  • Orient Collective Mine users to Proximity system and assist with setting up access to shared office equipment.
  • Assist Executive Director with light bookkeeping and scheduling with clients.
  • Perform clerical duties such as answering phones, responding to emails, relaying messages, ordering supplies, receiving packages, managing mailings and being a professional point of contact for the public.

 

Qualifications:

  • 1+ years of experience in grant writing and office management. Municipal and economic development grant writing experience preferred.

 

Required Skills:

  • Organizational and time management skills.
  • Exceptional attention to detail.
  • Hands-on experience with office machines and equipment.
  • Experience developing internal systems.
  • Experience with writing local, state, and federal grants.
  • Ability to work cooperatively with a wide range of people representing diverse interests.
  • Ability to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate the options and services required to accurately administer grants and track deliverables.

 

Why WEEDC?

  • Competitive Salary
  • Paid Time Off
  • Paid Sick Days
  • Paid Federal Holidays
  • Flexible Schedule

 

Job Details:

  • Location: 217 W Main St., Naturita, CO 81422
    • West Ends of Montrose & San Miguel Counties
    • Ideally the hired person will live within the zip codes of 81411, 81422, 81423, 81424, 81429, or 81431. Hybrid work might be possible. Relocation assistance is not provided.
  • Title: Office & Grant Administrator
  • Compensation: $58,000-65,000 DOE
  • Job Type: Full time position
  • Supervisor: The Office and Grants Administrator will report directly to the Executive Director of WEEDC and the Town Clerks and/or Town Managers of each town: Naturita, Norwood, Nucla.
  • Travel: Ability to travel within Colorado (regional travel will be often)
  • To apply, please submit your cover letter and resume to weedc@choosewestend.org.

Deana Sheriff Leaves West End Economic Development Corporation

Naturita, CO, December 21, 2022

After 5 years of dedication to the West End, Deana Sheriff leaves West End Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) for another amazing opportunity.

Starting in April of 2017, Sheriff was employed to assist with the West End’s transition away from coal. During her tenure, Sheriff spearheaded many projects and programs to jumpstart the transition away from coal. Sheriff has been recognized at the state and national levels for her efforts in establishing easily replicable community programs, including establishing a HUBZone, creating easy to use applications for Just Transition programs, and a roadmap to diversify a small rural community with just a few pathways, and so much more.

Sheriff said of her resignation, “it was a very difficult decision to move on, but occasionally an opportunity comes up that you have to pursue. I know that I’m leaving WEEDC in good hands. The West End is headed in the right direction, and I know the Board and Makayla will keep working to make the West End even better in the future.”

WEEDC’s Board of Directors would like to express their great appreciation for Sheriff’s strong dedication to the organization and the West End Community. Without Sheriff and her efforts, our community would not be where it is today. Sheriff brought her knowledge and experience to a community that was desperate not to die. Sheriff helped WEEDC accomplish that goal to create the West End as a great place to live, work, and play.

WEEDC was started in 2013 by a group of community leaders who wanted to ensure the transition away from coal was a smooth one. The Purpose of the West End Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) is to create and encourage an inviting, pro-business environment, integrated with our independent spirit and friendly culture, while capitalizing on our natural and historic resources.

Following Sheriff’s departure in December, the Board of Director’s named Makayla Gordon as Interim Executive Director. Gordon obtained a BS in Business Administration from the Monfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado. Gordon has been with WEEDC for two years now as the Business & Community Development Manager. Gordon came to WEEDC with experience in running various sizes of retail stores in multiple states. Gordon will continue her previous work as the Business & Community Development Manager as well as the responsibilities of the Executive Director.

Contact Information:

Makayla Gordon

Executive Director

mgordon@choosewestend.org

WEEDC Wins an EDIE Award!

The West End Economic Development Corporation was awarded the 2021 Small Community of the Year Award November 18th.

The EDCC’s Virtual Annual Meeting & EDIE Awards Ceremony, presented by Climax Molybdenum, on Nov. 18. We couldn’t have celebrated the great work our economic development professionals and stakeholders are doing without you! Your presence, Julie Roberts style woo hoo’s, and kind comments were what made this event so successful!

A former mining camp is converting into a boutique getaway, sparking hope in Montrose County’s West End

With luxury cabins and an emphasis on art, Naturita looks to the past and seeks to rebuild its economy around tourism and outdoor recreation

NATURITA — The flashing lights bounce off the rusting water tank as the DJ’s thunderous bass resonates across the desert. A couple dozen well-spaced revelers, young and old in wigs and glitter and outrageous costumes, frolic beneath the glowing Milky Way.

A friend leans over to Natalie Binder as they absorb the scene from the back of a pickup truck and asks if she ever expected all these colorful characters would be dancing on a remote desert bluff that 60 years ago was home to one of the largest mining camps in Colorado.

“Absolutely,” says Binder, who with her architect partners, is developing 120 acres above the San Miguel River into a boutique retreat they hope will spark a long overdue renaissance in the struggling West End of Montrose County.

Since buying the property in 2018, Binder, a longtime Telluride local, has spent many weeks in the West End, where the Vanadium Corp. built a company town called Vancorum. Her grandmother was secretary to the company president. Her dad grew up in one of the cabins she is remodeling. Her mom and dad met on the property.

“I’ve spent a lot of time here alone in the last two years, and I always kept thinking about how much I want to share this place,” she says the morning after the dance party near the hulking tank that once provided water to mine workers. “I know this will become a very special space for a lot of different people. That’s what I thought last night. This is happening because this is what we manifested.”

Binder’s Camp V, with campsites on the river, luxury cabins on the hill and an eclectic emphasis on art, history, architecture and outdoor recreation, is a big deal for Naturita and its sister community Nucla. The project — one of Colorado’s first recipients of an Opportunity Zone investment — marks a definitive turn toward tourism and outdoor recreation in an area that has spent decades hoping for a revival of uranium and vanadium mining.

Camp V is the latest example of economic sparks promising to revitalize Montrose County’s West End, which joins a growing list of Colorado’s overlooked rural enclaves embracing innovative entrepreneurs who are tapping the surging outdoor recreation and tourism industries as economic drivers.

And the sparks couldn’t come at a better time. Hope for a new uranium mill in the nearby Paradox Valley has died. The promise of a resurgence from the exploding hemp industry has not materialized. The local Tri-State power plant and coal mine closed two years earlier than planned. As hopeful winds from new residents, investors and projects again fill the West End’s sails, locals are hoping this is Nucla and Naturita’s long-overdue moment to shine.