Albuquerque Economic Development and the Albuquerque Forward Fund announce 505 Awards honorees, ABQ introduces digital film permitting

October 23, 2020

To honor those making significant to economic growth in the Albuquerque area, the Albuquerque Economic Development and the Albuquerque Forward Fund earlier this month announced the honorees for the second annual 505 Awards, according to a news release.

“In this especially challenging year, we saw organizations and individuals come together in some truly inspiring and creative ways to support each other and our region,” said Leean Kravitz, Chair of the Albuquerque Forward Fund, in a statement. “This year’s awards program will help us recognize those leading that recent, vital work as well as their longer term efforts to improve the lives of those in our community.”

• The honorees were:
  Community leadership award: Albuquerque Community Foundation and Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
• Excellence in workforce development award: Central New Mexico Community College
  Small business champion award: DreamSpring
• Lifetime leadership award: Gary Tonjes
• Advocate of the year award: Charles Rath, president and CEO of RS21
• Public service leadership award: Fred Mondragon, founder and owner of Mondragon International
• Rising star award: Rathi Casey, partner and CEO at UKUU Creative

City implements new digital film permitting system

The city of Albuquerque’s film office announced earlier this month that it is taking its permitting process for film productions completely digital. The switch is meant to support growth in the industry, according to a news release.

“Throughout the public health emergency, we worked behind the scenes to make government faster and more efficient for when television and film productions come back,” Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement. “Film was booming in Albuquerque leading up to the pandemic, creating jobs and supporting small businesses in the process, and we’re going to make sure we’re supporting that growth on the backend.”

The city says the new system, called Eproval, will make submitting and reviewing film permits easier for productions and the film office, while also decreasing human errors.

“Both Netflix and NBCUniversal have a presence in Albuquerque, which helped drive more than a 50 percent increase in permits from 2018 to 2019 and we expect that to continue to grow,” said Karen Criswell, film liaison for the city’s film office.

BeWellnm to hold virtual insurance enrollment events

BeWellnm, a health insurance marketplace for those in New Mexico, is hosting a series of virtual enrollment events for the Albuquerque area beginning Nov. 4.

The events will provide opportunities for residents to learn about the plans offered as part of the exchange, subsidies or tax credits and assistance with enrollment. Information will be given in English and Spanish, according to a release.

Here is the event schedule:

• Nov. 4, 2020 – from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Click here to access the virtual meeting
• Nov. 5, 2020 – from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Click here to access the virtual meeting
• Nov. 10, 2020 – 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  Click here to access the virtual meeting

Credit: Collin Krabbe – Technology reporter, Posted on Albuquerque Business First website on October 23, 2020 / 03:30 PM MDT

Link to article: https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2020/10/23/505-awards-announced-and-permits-go-digital.html

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