In 1987, Martin Marietta (later Lockheed Martin), the largest employer in Littleton, Colo., shed 7,000 jobs - half its local workforce.
Those who were laid off equaled about 20 percent of Littleton’s pop- ulation at the time, and the layoffs left more than 1 million square feet of retail and office space vacant.1 Because of this devastating setback to the community and other economic challenges, the city shifted its efforts from recruiting outside companies to focusing on helping entrepreneurs already in Littleton grow their businesses.
According to Chris Gibbons, business/industry affairs director for Littleton,
“The community wanted to take back its own economic des- tiny from out-of-state corporations, speculative real estate developers and low-end service jobs. It wanted an economy built from the inside out with employers who had a commit- ment to Littleton and would build the community as well as their companies. It wanted good jobs with good pay that would stay in the community. ... Littleton did not depend on the federal government or distant corporations to salvage its economy when times were bleak. It relied, rather, on its own initiative, with a local government creating a nurturing ‘gar- den’ in which entrepreneurs could survive and thrive.”
