Part of the pilot program WorkReady Denver, the courses are tied to Mayor Mike Johnston's Denver Asylum Seekers Program (DASP), which gave 850 migrants six months' free rent, English classes and help to secure work permits.
"It was a very pleasant experience," new Denver resident Jorjelys Hernandez says about her time in WorkReady, which taught her skills for jobs in construction. "I'm grateful that they gave us an opportunity during a tough situation. Now my situation is a lot more stable, and I'm ready for what comes."
Hernandez says that she's still staying in an apartment with her rent paid by the city, but she has plans to move alongside friends once she has a job. Although she completed her courses in construction through WorkReady last week, she still doesn't have a job lined up, but "I'll take whichever job comes my way," she says.
"My hope is to keep going forward. with effort, with a love for what I do, with responsibility, and go after every opportunity that comes up," she says. "I have all the hope in the world thanks to the city's help."
In April, Denver City Council approved a six-month, $2.3 million contract with Centro Humanitario Para Los Trabajadores, Denver's only day laborer organization, to run WorkReady before it launched in May. The city has since extended the contract with Centro Humanitario for $600,000 to enroll another 200 migrants and have them complete courses by the spring.
Mayra Juárez-Denis, executive director of Centro Humanitario, says "it was not rocket science" for Denver to adopt WorkReady, which is modeled after programs run by Centro Humanitario. According to the Colorado Workforce Development Council, hospitality, construction and early childhood care have some of the largest shortages of workers in the state right now, so Juárez-Denis says it made sense to train Denver's migrants for those jobs.
"We need their labor, because there's a shortage of workers," Juárez-Denis says. "At the same time, we've been trying to figure out how to integrate people into the labor market once they have work permits."
According to Juárez-Denis, about eighty employers have signed up to recruit from WorkReady's first cohort of 500 graduates, which should be wrapped up by mid-December, she says. The graduation of the first cohort also comes as Denver moves its Newcomer Program into the Office of Human Rights & Community Partnership; the Newcomer Program was originally created in February, when the city was struggling to deal with an influx of migrant arrivals.
About 43,000 migrants, many of whom are from Venezuela, have shown up in Denver since December 2022, with one of the largest waves coming in winter, when the city had more than 5,000 people in its shelters in January. Denver recruited WorkReady participants from the 850 migrants already signed up for DASP, a program that Johnston had created to manage city spending on migrant support. Only about 500 migrants are in WorkReady, because one person per household benefiting from DASP has to enroll, according to the mayor's office, and the 850 migrants in DASP include families and children.
The influx of migrants has tapered off this year. Buses from El Paso and other parts of Texas used to overwhelm Denver by dropping off dozens each day, sometimes at midnight, but only one migrant bus has shown up since June, the mayor's office reports. All the hotels leased or used by the city to house migrants have been closed for six months, too.
Denver city officials have helped nearly 4,000 migrants get work authorization through clinics, but the migrants targeted for DASP were only eligible for work permits if they applied for asylum. The asylum process only allows migrants to get work permits once they've been in the country for six months, so DASP was created to support migrants with free rent and job training while they waited for work authorization. The city enrolled about 850 migrants instead of the full thousand, because most migrants it tried to recruit turned out to be eligible under CBP One or another federal policy, according to the mayor's office.
The city recruited most of the DASP participants from city shelters, but others were referred through Papagayo and ViVe Wellness, two nonprofits that have helped the city respond to the migrant crisis.
"This is addressing people who really didn't have a path, who didn't have a clear-cut way of getting a job legally here," says Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor's office. "We know that there are still obstacles, that there are people out there who don't have that path, who are working under the table."
Denver Migrant Response
Johnston first handled the influx of migrants in the winter by buying and leasing hotels and motels to house them. The mayor's office estimates that more than 21,000 migrants are still in the metro area, but DASP was set up to help 1,000 migrants. However, many migrants in the city didn't need more than a legal clinic to help them apply and secure a work permit, because they were eligible under certain federal policies or programs like CBP One, which allows immigrants to live and work in the United States if they're too vulnerable to wait in Mexico for their immigration case to get to court.The influx of migrants has tapered off this year. Buses from El Paso and other parts of Texas used to overwhelm Denver by dropping off dozens each day, sometimes at midnight, but only one migrant bus has shown up since June, the mayor's office reports. All the hotels leased or used by the city to house migrants have been closed for six months, too.
Denver city officials have helped nearly 4,000 migrants get work authorization through clinics, but the migrants targeted for DASP were only eligible for work permits if they applied for asylum. The asylum process only allows migrants to get work permits once they've been in the country for six months, so DASP was created to support migrants with free rent and job training while they waited for work authorization. The city enrolled about 850 migrants instead of the full thousand, because most migrants it tried to recruit turned out to be eligible under CBP One or another federal policy, according to the mayor's office.
Edwin Jose Albarran Figueredo earns a certification for completing a WorkReady course that taught him how to work in a kitchen.
Bennito L. Kelty
"This is addressing people who really didn't have a path, who didn't have a clear-cut way of getting a job legally here," says Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for the mayor's office. "We know that there are still obstacles, that there are people out there who don't have that path, who are working under the table."
The City of Denver is banking on its projection that the full-time employment of 500 migrants will generate $20 million for the local economy. Juárez-Denis says that's a good "return on investment" on the $2.3 million contract the city signed with her organization in April to run WorkReady.
"When you do the math, their return on investment is huge," she says. "This is more than doing the right thing. It's good for the economy, as well. They're not going to become a burden."
It's also banking on the idea that most WorkReady graduates won't leave and take their job skills to another city: "The people who are going to leave, they already left, "Juárez-Denis says. "Because when they leave, they're pretty quick."
"These are folks who have put down roots here, to a degree," Ewing adds. "Their kids are in school here, they've grown to know this community and the people here. And also, they're giving to Denver, and Denver is giving to them. It's reciprocal."
The mayor boldly reaffirmed his commitment to supporting migrants by telling Denverite that he'll use the police and count on groups that support migrants like the Highland Mommies to defend against President-elect Donald Trump's plans for mass deportation, known as Operation Aurora.
“In Denver, we respect the law and enforce it without fear or favor across every inch of our city. If Donald Trump tries to break the law and abuse his power, he will get no help from us," Johnston said in a statement issued last week. "Denver is proud to be a welcoming city, and we will do everything in our power to protect those who live here. We are considering a number of options to strengthen protections for all our residents, and we continue to provide education about the rights of our immigrant community so they can best protect themselves from any unlawful actions.”
A few days later, however, Johnston walked back his bold stance in an interview with 9News on Saturday, November 23, lamenting that he threatened "a Tiananmen Square moment" with civilians facing off against armed federal agents and the military.
"Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn't have used that image," Johnston said in a November 23 interview. "That's the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country."
A few days later, however, Johnston walked back his bold stance in an interview with 9News on Saturday, November 23, lamenting that he threatened "a Tiananmen Square moment" with civilians facing off against armed federal agents and the military.
"Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn't have used that image," Johnston said in a November 23 interview. "That's the image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country."
Clare Berzins, the daughter of British Bulldog owner Mark Berzins, and her husband, Manuel Sucre, who emigrated from Venezuela, turned to WorkReady to recruit employees for their restaurants. Berzins needs back-of-house staff for the Little Pub Company, her father's chain of seventeen bars and restaurants across the metro area, which includes the British Bulldog, the Pioneer, Ice House Tavern and others.
"We're planning to hire as many as we can," Berzins says. "It is a constant issue, finding people that are reliable, that show up, that have the care and attention our customers deserve. That is a problem going back years and years, and it's just really hard to find good people in the kitchen."
Sucre is looking for several employees for Catira, a restaurant he's opening within the next three months near Interstate 25 and East Belleview Avenue that will offer Venezuelan cuisine.
"When they complete this course, it's obvious they want to work hard," Sucre says. "Venezuelans are the best people to hire. They're here to work hard."
This article was updated to correct an error stating that Little Pub Company owned Catira restaurant. The two businesses are not connected.
