Colorado Politics

Denver launches $100 million effort to support 10,000 new jobs

The City of Denver is aiming to support 10,000 quality jobs citywide over the next three years, Mayor Mike Johnston announced on Thursday.

The Denver Jobs Agenda is a new city-backed strategy that will invest $100 million to support in-demand job training and attract and grow more small businesses.

“Denver’s economy thrives when the city helps employers create jobs and helps residents prepare to fill them,” said Adeeb Khan, executive director of Denver Economic Development & Opportunity. “The Denver Jobs Agenda meets people where they are, connecting jobseekers to the skills and resources they need to grow in their careers. It places the city’s economic development, workforce, small business, permitting, industry and downtown efforts under one plan with a shared measure of success: more jobs and more Denver residents in them.”

The idea, Johnston said, is to connect workers and businesses, at whatever stage they may be, with the resources they need, all available at a one-stop shop on the city’s website.

“This will help support the training that turns a job into a career, the loan that turns a dream into a business and the paycheck that turns hard work into a good life,” Johnston said.

Built on four components, the program includes Launch Denver ($6 million for entrepreneurs), Build Denver ($10.5 million for small businesses), Open Denver ($40 million to attract businesses), and Work Denver ($45 million for workforce training).

Johnston told reporters that “almost zero” of the program’s cost came from general fund dollars, but later clarified that the “all-in city number” was “somewhere around a million dollars or less.”

“Most of these come from state and federal partners, as well as our downtown Denver Development Authority,” Johnston said. “So, in times of tight budgets, we’re both making sure we’re investing in our workers and in our businesses and also making sure we’re protecting the general fund.”

a chart that break out the components of the Denver Jobs initiative

Talent is the “No. 1” factor employers consider when deciding where to grow and invest, said J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“And when we invest in Denver by training residents, we make the region more competitive and give employers a reason to expand and invest here,” he added. “And our members tell us that frequently their biggest constraint is not really always capital or real estate. It’s finding talented and skilled workers, and this plan directly invests in closing that gap.”

To learn more, job seekers, employers and small business owners may visit denvergov.org/denverjobsagenda.


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