Courtesy/Tumbleroot

Courtesy/Louisiana Pepper Exchange

EDD News:

SANTA FE — The Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) board in August has approved awards totaling $1,034,194 to assist in training up to 135 New Mexico workers, Economic Development Department (EDD) Deputy Secretary Jon Clark announced today. 

JTIP is a reimbursement program that incentivizes companies to hire New Mexicans and expand within the state. This month’s awards are geographically diverse, going to businesses in nine different communities: Alburquerque, Clovis, Los Alamos, Mesilla Park, Moriarty, Roswell, Santa Fe, Santa Teresa, and Taos. 

Eleven companies were approved for JTIP awards in August – 10 for new trainees, and one organization receiving STEP-UP funds to help employees upskill and earn a higher wage.

These companies are: 

• 3D Glass Solutions, Inc., Albuquerque, 1 trainee at a wage of $38.47 for a total award of $20,312.16. 3D Glass Solutions (3DGS) is a world-class expert on the fabrication of electronic packages and devices using photo-definable glass-ceramics. 3DGS is a pure-play glass foundry that empowers high-performance electronics using engineered glass to design and manufacture passive components for next generation wireless and optical communications.
• Dean Baldwin Painting, Roswell, 25 trainees at an average wage of $16.40 for a total award of $172,060. Dean Baldwin Painting, LP, is registered in SAM (System for Award Management) as a minority, woman-owned, small, privately held business specializing in aircraft strip and paint services. The hangar located at the Roswell International Air Center has six temperature-controlled bays with air filtration and waste management systems.
• Falcon Industries, LLC dba ERGO Grip, Moriarty, 5 trainees at an average wage of $16.04 for a total award of $31,890.48. ERGO develops and manufactures high performance small arms accessories to support civilian, law enforcement, and military users worldwide with the goal to provide all shooters with the finest firearm accessories available. ERGO Grip (ERGO) is a family owned business and the largest private employer in Torrance County.
• Louisiana Pepper Exchange, LLC, Santa Teresa, 10 trainees at an average wage of $16.47 for a total award of $84,597.20. Louisiana Pepper Exchange is a global chile pepper company that mastered logistical innovations to market puree to restaurants and discerning foodies. Their newly acquired 40,000-square-foot processing warehouse in the Borderplex region includes space for tank farms that can store 30 million pounds of pepper mash for sale to U.S. customers.
• MidSchoolMath, LLC, Taos, 2 trainees at an average wage of $47.25 for a total award of $79,874. MidSchoolMath provides curriculum for Grades 5 through 8 plus standalone professional learning. Curriculum Directors considering MidSchoolMath are interested in finding a math curriculum that fosters a growth-mindset approach and is highly rated by EdReports, an independent reviewer of educational curricula.
• The New Mexico Consortium (NMC), Los Alamos, 1 trainee at a wage of $31.48 for a total award of $17,619.60. NMC is a partnership between the three New Mexico Universities and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. They integrate the strengths of the partner universities and build strategic collaborations with scientific and educational institutions nationwide and throughout the world to support research and education in the public interest. NMC’s efforts include research that addresses global, national, and local environmental issues. Current focus areas are solar energy, high-performance computing, food security, and biofuels.
• STEM Boomerang, Albuquerque, 50 trainees, $67,500 STEP-UP award. STEM Boomerang, LLC is a woman and minority-owned business designed to tackle the workforce recruitment challenges faced by New Mexico. By creating a talent pool of highly skilled STEM professionals locally and connecting them to the best career opportunities, the organization has supported economic growth in New Mexico’s high-opportunity sectors. The organization also provides career coaching for hundreds of NM graduates.
• Tumbleroot Brewing LLC, Santa Fe, 4 trainees at an average wage of $19.50 for a total award of $33,698. With a combined brewery and distillery production space, Tumbleroot makes a wide variety of beer, spirits, liqueurs, bitters, and canned cocktails. Made from scratch, their products feature organic, garden grown and wild harvested ingredients. Tumbleroot’s production space has an intimate tasting room and bottle shop where guests can learn more about the brewery/distillery, sample products, and enjoy draft beer and craft cocktails.
• Vana, LLC, Clovis, 2 trainees at an average wage of $18.34 for a total award of $20,157.28. Vana LLC and sister company Orenda Farms are minority, women-owned companies serving New Mexico. The operation is vertically integrated with Orenda Farms as the cannabis growing facility and Vana as the processing and manufacturing facility of cannabis products that include edibles, salves, lotions, and tinctures. Vana also partners with local cannabis growers by buying and processing their products.
• Vitality Works, Inc., Albuquerque, 34 trainees at an average wage of $32.11 for a total award of $498,352.16. Vitality Works has strived to provide leading edge medicinal supplements of the highest quality, purity, and potency. With approximately 600 customers worldwide, Vitality Works sells their products to healthcare practitioners, health food stores, retail stores, natural food traders, multi-level marketing companies and foreign operations. With more than 2,500 ingredients in stock and more than 600 packaging options, the company can fulfill any order from a small run of a single ingredient to a large run of a packaged proprietary formula.
• Worthington Farms LLC, Mesilla Park, 1 trainee at a wage of $14.34 for a total award of $8,133.20. Worthington Farms produces a variety of pecan products that include flavored pecans, oils, syrups, nut butter, soaps, lotions, lip balms and sugar rubs that are currently sold through the company website. They currently manage a 9-acre orchard with 245 pecan trees and have long-term plans to expand their pecan orchard and lease their shelling and commercial kitchen to other pecan producers in Doña Ana County.