New Mexico rural community and county leaders are taking advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Stronger Economies Together program to help them develop and implement an economic development blueprint for their multi-county regions.

The SET program is a joint initiative between New Mexico State University's College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, USDA Rural Development and the Western Regional Rural Development Center at Utah State University.

"We have nine regions within New Mexico encompassing 32 of our 33 counties," said Michael Patrick, NMSU Cooperative Extension Service economic development specialist. "Across the nation there are 94 SET regions in 32 states. New Mexico has the most counties participating."

The SET regions in New Mexico are:

• Southwestern New Mexico Economic Development Partnership including Catron, Grants, Hidalgo and Luna counties. Launched in 2010.
• Northeast Economic Development Organization - New Mexico including Union, Colfax, Mora, Harding, Quay, Guadalupe and San Miguel counties. Established in 2010.
• Trails of the Ancients including San Juan, McKinley and Cibola counties. Established in 2013.
• Northern New Mexico Pueblos SET Region including Santa Fe, Taos and Rio Arriba counties and the pueblos of Tesuque, San Ildefonso and Picuris. Established in 2015.
• Middle Rio Grande Economic Development Organization including Catron, Valencia, Socorro and Sierra counties. Established in 2015.
• South Central Mountains Economic Development Organization including Lincoln and Otero counties, and the Mescalero Apache Tribe. Established in 2015.
• East Central New Mexico SET Region including Quay, Guadalupe, De Baca and Torrance counties. Established in 2016.
• Mid Central Rural Corridor including Los Alamos, Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. Established in 2017.
• South Eastern New Mexico SAT Region including Curry, Roosevelt, Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties. Established in 2017.

Strategic Plans

• SET Plan 1: North East Economic Development Organization, Inc. DBA NEEDO-NM, 2016

• SET Plan 2: Trail of the Ancients, 2016

• SET Plan 3: Middle Rio Grande Economic Development Association, 2016

• SET Plan 4: South Central Mountain Economic Development Association, 2016

• Set Plan 5: Northern New Mexico Pueblos, 2016

• SET Plan 6: East Central New Mexico, 2018

• SET Plan 7: New Mexico Mid Central Rural Corridor, 2018

• SET Plan 8: Southeastern New Mexico