As Mesa County moves to reopen more of its economy, local governments and economic development organizations are looking at what they can do to further respond to the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.

Grand Junction Economic Partnership, in partnership with Colorado Mesa University, is conducting a industry analysis of Mesa County. The first step is a survey of local businesses it hopes will provide data that can help guide further actions to help the local economy.

“We’re really just trying to shed some light on what business expectations and business needs are in a highly quantifiable way,” said Associate Professor of Economics at CMU Nathan Perry, who helped develop the survey. “I think there’s a lot of anecdotal stories and evidence out there. What this is going to do is provide hard data on specific industries and what needs they have and what problems they are having and what they see happening over the next six months to a year.”

READ THE FULL STORY IN THE DAILY SENTINEL.