From left are Aaron Sera, SWNM Council of Governments Board Chair; Terry Brunner, NM USDA director; Linda Smrkovsky, Luna County economic development director; Doug O'Brian, USDA Under-Secretary, Emily Gojkovich, Economic Development Planner, and Priscilla Lucero, SWNM Council of Governments Director.

The Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments applied for the USDA Promise Zone Designation for the SWNM Economic Partnership. Luna County volunteered to be the lead for the region.  Thirty applications, of which 20 were rural were submitted. Others were tribal and metropolitan areas.  The USDA selected only one rural community for the designation—a community in Kentucky. The Southwest New Mexico Economic Partnership came in second. Doug O'Brian, undersecretary of USDA, came to visit the region, as it was a finalist.  The USDA selected only the designee and a finalist.bThe Partnership will resubmit the application when it opens up again. Funding has been allocated by the USDA for 20 Promise Zones,over the next three years.

The first five Promise Zones—located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma—have each put forward a plan on how they will leverage federal partnerships and resources in the most effective ways possible to improve their communities. In exchange, these designees will be able to access federal investments in order to achieve their goals, according to the USDA website.
 
Emily Gojkovich of the SWNMCOG took the lead in the application and staff provided support to get the application complete.