Grow Raton outlines community kitchen and business pre‑incubation program

Brandy Deeds, vice president of Grow Raton, used public comment time to describe plans to repurpose a former Presbyterian church on Third Street into a community kitchen and event center and to support new local food businesses.

Deeds said the project will retain much of the old sanctuary for events while improving accessibility and operating a food‑hub kitchen. "We are actually going to launch our pre‑incubation program on July 20th," she said, and added the program will include market research, compliance and budgeting training for caterers, food processors and similar small manufacturers. She also announced a lean‑manufacturing workshop on July 16 with 10 fee‑waived slots for New Mexico businesses.

Deeds said Grow Raton has letters of support from the non‑metro area agency on aging, a Trinidad restaurant and a local grocery, and that the organization is partnering with Raton Main Street to activate a vacant lot on First Street. She invited interested residents to contact her at vicepresident@growraton.org for details and registration.

The commission did not take formal action on the item during the meeting; Deeds’s remarks were recorded during the public comment segment. Commissioners thanked her for the update and noted local partners, including the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, will provide training and technical assistance.

The presentation is part of ongoing local economic‑development activity; Grow Raton said it will seek additional community input and participants as it launches programming in July.