EDD secretary-designate calls state’s job training program ‘very successful’ in budget presentation

Calling it a “very successful training program,” New Mexico Economic Development Department Secretary-Designate Rob Black said the Job Training Incentive Program has aided 221 companies in training workers and interns within the state.

The department led by Black, appointed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in September, will ask state legislators in the upcoming 60-day session for up to $31.9 million to run the department’s divisions and programs in the fiscal year 2026, which runs from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.

It is also asking for $56.2 million in special requests — about $10 million of which would aid the state’s JTIP, which helps businesses pay a portion of the cost in wages for on-site or classroom training.

The department’s presentation was made to the Legislative Finance Committee on Monday, with an accompanying presentation showing that JTIP, founded in 1972, has aided 529 projects from January 2019 through November 2024, totaling about $66.6 million.

The money has helped train thousands of workers, according to the presentation, and has helped transition about 292 interns into full-time jobs. That was of keen interest to Sen. Roberto “Bobby" Gonzales, D-Ranchos de Taos, who called that number “really outstanding.”

The department also asked for $1 million to increase recurring program funding for JTIP. EDD is also looking to increase the New Mexico Partnership budget by $1 million to $1.9 million. It's also seeking other dollars to fund positions in the Office of Strategy, Science and Technology and in the Outdoor Recreation Division.

In special appropriations, EDD plans to replenish the Local Economic Development Act program, which aids expanding businesses, with $38 million. The agency is also asking for $1.5 million for Media Academy operations; $3 million for the Outdoor Equity Fund; $500,000 for the Underrepresented Voices Filmmaker Fund of New Mexico; and $3.2 million for grants in the Healthy Food Financing Fund.

Black on Monday also told legislators that he plans to “run some legislation with you” on a site-readiness strategy.

It will help “identify and support opportunities for economic investment with our counties, cities, economic development organizations, our tribal partners,” Black said, “so that we can identify sites that are ready for infrastructure or that are ready for other types of development investment, and make those more commercially available and viable so that we’re more competitive with our sister states.

“As part of that is an initiative that we’ll be supporting around making it easier to pre-deploy utility infrastructure in New Mexico, whether that’s electrical infrastructure, water, wastewater, broadband. We want to sharpen the focus on … economic strategy.”