Here’s a look at some local news:
According to the National Park Service, 79,107 visitors came to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in Catron County in 2018 and spent $4,671,000 in communities near the park. That spending supported 71 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $4,779,000. The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service.
The Freeport-McMoRan Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2019 Grant County Community Investment Fund. The organizations from Silver City and the Mining District received their awarded funding last month and will be recognized by members of the Community Investment Committee during visits to each recipient organization this year. The 2019 grant recipients are as follows: Big Brothers and Big Sisters Mountain Region Grant County One to One Mentoring Initiative; Cobre Consolidated School District STEAM Journey with Drones; Community Partnership for Children CPC Links; Grant County New Mexico Stepping Up; Foundry Makerspace Workshops and Forums; New Mexico State University Hospitality and Tourism Industry Training; New Mexico Lions Crane Reading Program Literacy Reading Labs in Cobre Schools; Silver City MainStreet Plaza Phase II; Silver Consolidated School District Career Tech Training – Makerspace Initiative; Village of Santa Clara Splash Park Improvements; Virus Theater Summer Youth Theater; and Western New Mexico University Capacity Building for Family Engagement in Math Literacy. For more information about Freeport-McMoRan community investments and programs, go to Freeport In My Community.com.
Members of the Luna County Commission unanimously approved a budget resolution amounting to a $250,000 increase to assist in management regarding the influx of asylum seekers who are being temporarily housed at the Southwestern New Mexico Fairgrounds and the Deming Airport hangars. According to the Resolution, the county received the funds through a grant released by the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
