COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Hundreds of businesses and community leaders from across the city and county gathered Friday for the 13th annual Southern Colorado Economic Forum.
The event brought together local experts from private, public and academic sectors. It also featured panelists from the Aerospace Industry and the Governor's Renewable Energy Office.
At last year's forum the outlook was bleak. Economists had little to say about the financial world that was positive and business owners braced themselves for the worst.
So what about next year? Experts said things are looking up. They said the recession is nearly over in Southern Colorado thanks in part to the military.
"That stability factor is enormous and that is why we have come out of the recession so quick compared to the national numbers," Fred Crowley said.
Crowley is the Senior Economist with the forum. He said employment growth is also starting to increase at the local level, but he added it could take up to 18 months before we see huge improvements.
In the housing market, Crowley said resale home prices have gone up around four to five percent since January of this year.
"New building permit activity could also be up 25 percent in 2010, so that creates a lot of construction jobs," Crowley said.
As for 201, Crowley said it is shaping up to be a great economic year for Southern Colorado.
He said in order to get there though, business and community leaders need to come together and share their thoughts and ideas.
"When we study what is going on in the local economy everyone has their own separate ideas and plans. We need to get them in the same room and agree, we need to have an integrated approach to improving quality of life here," Crowley said.
To learn more about the Southern Colorado Economic Forum click here.
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