Editor’s note: This is the fourth of four articles in a series highlighting the Emergent Campus in Florence.
FLORENCE – What once was a library for high school and middle school kids now is the hub where a team of highly-qualified professionals provides IT support to several federal agencies.
Second-61 is an IT advocate for businesses, helping their customers use technology to improve the way their businesses function. It was birthed and incubated in the Fremont Economic Development Corp’s TechSTART building in Cañon City but has expanded to the Emergent Campus in Florence, the former Florence High School and Middle School, providing more than 25 jobs that support several outside entities – and it’s growing.
The company was started by Cañon City native Chris Koehn. Its first contract was with the U.S. Department of Defense, which allowed Koehn to hire his first 10 employees in June 2019. The company has expanded to also support the Veteran’s Administration and federal law enforcement agencies.
“Each one of the team members – they are the ones helping,” Koehn said. “Sure, there’s the electronics systems, there’s a building and a network, but it’s the people – every one of these staff members and team members at Second-61, that is the advocate for the customer.”