New Mexico Tech (NMT), in partnership with the Mid Rio Grande Economic Development Association (MRGEDA), has been awarded a $19,500 FY26 LEADS grant from the New Mexico Economic Development Department (NMEDD) to establish a Small Business Clinic on the NMT campus. 

The clinic will pilot over the next year, focusing on serving rural small businesses in Valencia, Socorro, and Sierra Counties. Among its goals are offering general consulting and basic technical assistance—areas that often pose barriers for rural entrepreneurs. 

Most of the funding will go toward establishing the infrastructure of the clinic: supporting student and faculty stipends, acquiring software, and purchasing other necessary supplies. More importantly, the program provides a platform for collaboration—bringing NMT management faculty and students into hands-on engagement with local businesses in the region. 

This initiative will complement, not duplicate, NMT’s current engagement through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) program, which is managed by Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Lab. While NMSBA offers project-based technical assistance, it does not cover broader business support services like marketing and finance. The Small Business Clinic is designed to fill that gap. 

Co-leading the effort are Kirstin Keller, Executive Director of MRGEDA, and Haoying Wang, Associate Professor of Management at NMT (who also serves as Board Chair of MRGEDA). Together, they aim to strengthen the resources available to entrepreneurs across central New Mexico and provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities for NMT students. 

With the pilot year under way, the Small Business Clinic is expected to assess its impact and explore opportunities for sustained operation and potential expansion based on community feedback and measurable outcomes.