Broomfield economic vitality team outlines business attraction, retention and small-business grants
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Summary
The City and County of Broomfield’s Economic Vitality department presented an update on strategies to attract and retain businesses, workforce development and small-business financial programs including the Enhanced Broomfield grant and entrepreneurial micro-grants.
Robert Smith, director of Economic Vitality for the City and County of Broomfield, told council the department organized its work into eight “circles of focus” spanning business attraction, income-aligned housing, business retention and expansion, workforce development, resource deployment and preservation/rehabilitation of existing housing. Smith said the department is small but focused and that those circles guide the team’s strategic and tactical plans for 2025 and 2026.
Smith and staff highlighted programs and recent wins. Victoria Tran outlined business retention and expansion tactics including targeted industry outreach, site searches, workforce training and partner coordination. Tran said the Enhanced Broomfield program offers grants of up to $25,000 to small businesses (under 50 employees) and has awarded more than $700,000 to about 40 local businesses to date. The entrepreneurial micro-grant program provides awards (examples cited include $5,000 or other startup support) to help local entrepreneurs scale operations.
Jeffrey Schreier described business attraction work—supporting developers at pre-application stages, responding to state RFIs and promoting Broomfield’s enterprise zone and CHIPS/ChipZone designation to recruit life-science and advanced-manufacturing firms. He and Smith cited recent employer activity across a range of sectors and described efforts to market catalytic developments in Broomfield. “We want to make sure we deploy external resources—grants and incentives—and support businesses so they can grow here,” Schreier said.
Council members asked how staff track and support vacant flex/industrial space, what metrics the department uses to identify market gaps, and whether staff have capacity to create a business-resilience dashboard. Staff said they keep inventory, work with brokers and site selectors, and that some measures (sales tax trends, openings/closures) are available though a full dashboard would require staff resources. Directors acknowledged macroeconomic headwinds for 2026–2028 but said the department will focus on controllable activities—workforce alignment, maintaining relationships and targeted incentives.
Smith asked council to continue providing input; staff said they will return with future updates on catalytic projects such as Town Square and the FirstBank Center when additional development details are available.
