JTIP Board approves over $2 million, growing jobs in N.M.

SANTA FE, N.M. – The Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) Board approved $2 million in support of 457 new jobs in New Mexico during its August 2020 meeting, Economic Development Department Cabinet Secretary Alicia J. Keyes announced today.

Funds supported new jobs in Albuquerque, Truth or Consequences, Los Alamos, Corrales, and Santa Fe with hourly wages ranging from $13 to $65, or an average of $27. The companies in this round of JTIP funding include advanced technology, the automotive industry, robotics, quantum dots, product manufacturing, optics, and a brewery. In all, 15 companies will be expanding operations in New Mexico to create 457 new jobs.

​"Homegrown New Mexico companies are the backbone of our economy and communities all across our state. I am thrilled the state is able to support the growth of companies across such a diversity of economic sectors and even happier the salaries are competitive," said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. "We've got to make sure workers in New Mexico can live here and set down roots while supporting community anchors like these local businesses. It's the surest way to build our economy back better than ever before."

"New Mexico's Job Training program (JTIP) has proven to be an integral economic development tool to help local companies grow and expand," Cabinet Secretary Keyes said. "These companies believe in New Mexico’s workforce. They want to invest in the state, and train employees for higher-paying jobs."

The companies approved for August 2020 JTIP funding are:

3D Glass, Inc., Albuquerque (2 trainees). 3D Glass is an innovative 3D radio frequency passive device design and manufacturing company that develops and builds novel, high-frequency 3D component in its brand new, state-of-the-art 20,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Albuquerque.

Avg. wage: $19.50; Award Amt.: $13,480.

Advanced Manufactured Power Solutions (AMPS), Albuquerque (2 trainees). AMPS provides custom, high-quality and highly reliable battery packs for the defense and space industries. The company’s primary customers are government organizations and defense contractors. The four-year-old company recently signed its first out-of-state contract to complete a project for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in CA.

Avg. wage: $37.26; Award Amt.: $43,625.

Automotive Test Solutions, Inc. (ATS), Albuquerque (2 trainees). ATS is a multi-national award winning company that produces patented tool solutions for the automotive industries. It manufactures oscilloscopes, OBD II generic scan tools, misfire detectors, pressure transducers, leak detectors, gas analyzers, borescopes, engine simulators, ignition analyzers, and high tech training products to serve automotive technicians.

Avg. wage: $21; Award Amt.: $14,440.

ATS Chemical, LLC, Albuquerque (2 trainees). ATS Chemical has developed a 3C intelligent inductive cleaning system and a line of chemical products that remove heavy carbon deposits in engines in under 20 minutes without having to disassemble the engine.

Avg. wage: $21; Award Amt.: $14,440.

Build With Robots, LLC (BWR), Albuquerque (1 trainee). BWR is located within the Central New Mexico Community College FUSE Makerspace in Albuquerque, where it showcases automation and robotic solutions. BWR was recently awarded a contract with the Albuquerque Sunport to deploy disinfecting robots for nightly cleaning services.

Avg. wage: $35; Award Amt.: $10,296.

Carenet Healthcare Services, Albuquerque (45 trainees). Carenet helps over 100 healthcare organizations maximize performance. The company has extensive experience delivering flexible, scalable solutions to Medicaid, Medicare, commercial health plans, ACO’s, pharmacy benefit managers, hospital systems, the U.S. Military, employer groups, third party administrators, and colleges and universities.

Avg. wage: $13.53; Award Amt.: $111,130.

Ex Novo Brewing Company, Corrales (3 trainees). Founded in Portland, OR, Ex Novo Brewing Company packages beer in different formats for wholesale customers on the West Coast. Founder Joel Gregory, a native of Corrales, N.M., chose to expand the company and build a 9,600 sq. ft. production facility in his hometown. Ex Novo distributes beer in New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, California, and Japan.

Avg. wage: $18.67; Award Amt.: $31,384. 

Indica Labs, Inc., Albuquerque (2 trainees). Indica Labs, founded in Corrales, provides solutions that streamline the image analysis workflow for digital pathology, including HALO and HALO AI, for fast, quantitative evaluation of images and HALO Link for collaborative image and data management. Pharmaceutical, healthcare, and research organizations worldwide are using HALO in areas such as oncology, immuno-oncology, neuroscience, ophthalmology, metabolism, respiratory, and toxicological pathology.

Avg. wage: $32.45; Award Amt.: $37,128.

Marlowe Companies, Inc (DBA Mass Markets NM), Las Cruces (360 trainees). Mass Markets is a global leader in outsourced call center services across the entire customer account life cycle. The company currently has 14 locations in 12 states and will be expanding into Las Cruces. As part of a JTIP policy requirement, Mass Markets has agreed to contribute to employee health insurance premiums.

Avg. wage: $13.64; Award Amt.: $912,360.

New Mexico Build, LLC, Truth or Consequences (11 trainees). New Mexico Build is a 100% owned subsidiary of SpinLaunch Inc. New Mexico Build was founded in February of 2020 to support SpinLaunch's fabrication and manufacturing needs.

Avg. wage: $29.05; Award Amt.: $245,290.

OpenEye Scientific Software, Inc., Santa Fe (11 trainees). OpenEye develops large-scale molecular modeling applications and toolkits, primarily aimed towards drug discovery and design. It provides tools that vastly increase the scale of operation of computational chemistry in drug design.

Avg. wage: $47.27; Award Amt.: $298,940.

SpinLaunch, Inc., Truth or Consequences (2 trainees). SpinLaunch is an R&D aerospace company that is developing a revolutionary mass acceleration launch technology to allow for on-demand launches of small satellites in virtually any weather, at a much lower cost than existing systems.

Avg. wage: $39.25; Award Amt.: $66,312.

Twistle, Inc., Albuquerque (2 trainees). Twistle’s technology systems help large healthcare systems and life sciences organizations provide more personalized care to their patients. Twistle combines IoT (Internet of Things), mobile communications, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into a unified, streamlined platform that automatically provides personalized information to patients to make it easier for them to get the care they need.

Avg. wage: $65.67; Award Amt.: $78,036.

UbiQD, Inc., Los Alamos (5 trainees). UbiQD is an advanced materials company that manufactures high-performance cadmium-free quantum dots and composite materials. Quantum dots are known for their near-perfect ability to convert one color of light into another. The company’s first commercial product, UbiGro®, is a layer of light film or window covering that uses fluorescence to create a more optimal greenhouse spectrum for crops. The film shifts the colors of sunlight to make plants grow faster and improves crop yield.

Avg. wage: $35.31; Award Amt.: $96,597.

The Verdes Foundation, Albuquerque (7 trainees). The Verdes Foundation is a nonprofit organization and one of the longest operating cannabis production and dispensaries in New Mexico. The company has two adjacent production facilities in Albuquerque along with dispensary locations in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho that are operated by registered nurses. Positions associated with manufacturing are eligible for JTIP funding.

Avg. wage: $16.39; Award Amt.: $37,720.

JTIP funds classroom and on-the-job training for newly created jobs in expanding or relocating businesses for up to 6 months. The program reimburses 50-75% of employee wages allowing companies to more easily train new employees and provide promotion opportunities for existing employees. JTIP serves as a great incentive for companies to relocate to, or expand in New Mexico, which in turn benefits the New Mexico workforce and the state’s economy. The JTIP board meets monthly, virtually during the health emergency, to review applications and award funds.