DENVER, Colo. — CBI — March, 16, 2023 The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is proud to announce its forensic labs were nationally recognized as a “OSAC Standards Implementer” for their application of high-quality standards and practices in forensic science by the National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST)-sponsored Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC).
All four labs have been awarded an OSAC Registry Standards Implementer Certificate. The certificates recognize each of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation laboratories: Denver, Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Northern Colorado Regional Forensic Laboratory.
“The CBI Forensic Services is committed to following national standards and best practices. Over the years several CBI Forensic Scientists have been members of the OSAC discipline-specific committees to help create the OSAC standards. I’m proud of the work by the CBI scientists and all of Forensic Services to now implement these standards in our analysis,” said Deputy Director Lance Allen who oversees the CBI’s Forensic Services section.
OSAC recognizes crime labs that implement rigorous standards into their procedures as defined in their Registered Standards. The Registry is a repository of technically sound standards and best practices for forensic laboratories, and covers a broad spectrum of forensic disciplines including DNA, toxicology and digital evidence.
According to OSAC, these standards can “improve consistency across forensic science disciplines, ensure confidence in the accuracy, reliability, and reproducibility of laboratory results, and positively increase the impact of admissibility and expert testimony in courts of law.”
“We congratulate the four Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Forensic Science Laboratories for joining the growing list of agencies implementing the high-quality standards on the OSAC Registry into their operations. By embracing national standards and participating in their development, CBI is actively demonstrating its commitment to quality. Implementation of these standards should provide additional confidence to CBI stakeholders that their laboratories are analyzing forensic science evidence on a consistently sound foundation. We appreciate CBI’s support of OSAC and look forward to continuing to work with CBI as an OSAC Implementer as new standards are posted on the OSAC Registry and enhance the practice of forensic science in the United States,” said John Paul Jones II, OSAC Program Manager with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
DENVER — Today, Governor Polis signed bipartisan legislation into law to support Colorado’s national guard servicemembers, cut red tape, and reduce interstate barriers to strengthen Colorado’s workforce. Enacting the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact makes it easier for people, including eligible military spouses, to transfer their certificates when moving to Colorado. This added flexibility is the latest in a series of steps the Polis administration in partnership with the legislature has taken to advocate for Colorado as the best and rightful home for Space Command which the Governor, Lt. Governor, and local leaders pushed for this week in aletter to the President.
Governor Polis signed the following bills into law in ceremony:
HB23-1034 Measures To Expand Postconviction DNA Testing – Representatives Lindsey Daugherty & Matt Soper, Senators Julie Gonzales & Cleave Simpson
HB23-1053Veterans’ Cemetery Department of Public Safety Gifts Grants Donations – Representatives Anthony Hartsook & David Ortiz, Senators Rachel Zenzinger & Janice Rich
HB23-1045Employee Leave For Colorado National Guard Service – Representative Gabe Evans, Senators Byron Pelton & Nick Hinrichsen
HB23-1064Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact – Representatives Meghan Lukens & Mary Young, Senators Janice Marchman & Chris Kolker
Governor Polis also signed the following bills into law administratively:
SB23-010Water Resources And Agriculture Review Committee – Representative Barbara McLachlan, Senators Jeff Bridges & Cleave Simpson
SB23-040Staffing Agency CAPS Checks – Representative Mary Young, Senator Rhonda Fields
NEW YORK (AP) – Hollywood is gearing up for the 95th Academy Awards, where “Everything Everywhere All at Once” comes in the lead nominee and the film industry will hope to move past “the slap” of last year’s ceremony. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 Oscars, including when they are, where to watch the live show and this year’s controversies.
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WHEN ARE THE OSCARS?
The Oscars will be held Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony is set to begin at 8 p.m. EST and be broadcast live on ABC.
CAN YOU STREAM THE OSCARS?
The broadcast can be streamed with a subscription to Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and Fubo TV. Some of these services offer brief free trials. You can also stream the show on ABC.com and on the ABC app by authenticating your provider.
WHO’S HOSTING?
WHAT’S NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE AT THE 2023 OSCARS?
The 10 movies competing for best picture are: “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Women Talking.” Here’s a guide to how you can watch them.
WHO’S PRESENTING?
Presenters include: Halle Bailey, Antonio Banderas, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nicole Kidman, Florence Pugh and Sigourney Weaver. They join a previously announced group including: Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Troy Kotsur, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña and Donnie Yen. A third wave was announced Thursday: Halle Berry, Paul Dano, Cara Delevingne, Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Olsen, Pedro Pascal and John Travolta.
WHAT ELSE IS IN STORE FOR THE SHOW?
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has said that winners to all categories will be announced live on the show. (Last year, some categories were taped in a pre-show, something that caused an uproar among academy members.) All signs point to a full slate of musical performances, with Rihanna performing
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava singing Chandrabose and M.M. Keeravaani’s “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR.” Nominee Lady Gaga, on the other hand, will not sing “Hold My Hand,” from “Top
Gun: Maverick,” during the show. On Monday, show producers announced that Lenny Kravitz will deliver the “In Memoriam” performance.
WHO ARE THE FAVORITES?
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s indie sci-fi hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” comes in with a leading 11 nominations. Close on its heels, though, is the Irish friends-falling-out dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin,” with nine nods, a total matched by Netflix’s WWI film “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) may have a slight edge on Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) for best actress. Best actor is harder to call, with Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) and Austin Butler (“Elvis”) in the mix. In the supporting categories, Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) and Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) are the frontrunners, though Jamie Lee Curtis’ Screen Actors Guild Awards win may have thrown a wrench into the supporting actress category. Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”) may win his third best director Oscar, though the Daniels may have emerged as the frontrunners. AP Film Writers Lindsey Bahr and Jake Coyle are predicting a big haul for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
WHAT’S BEEN CONTROVERSIAL THIS YEAR?
Aside from the usual snubs and surprises, this year’s biggest to-do has been the debate surrounding Andrea Riseborough’s unexpected nomination for best actress. Riseborough was nominated for the little-seen, Texas-set drama “To Leslie” after
many A-list stars rallied around her performance. When two other best-actress contenders – Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) and Viola Davis (“Woman King”) – were snubbed, some saw that as a reflection of racial bias in the film industry. The academy launched an inquiry into the star-studded, grassroots campaign for Riseborough but found no reason to rescind her nomination.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR?
Just the reading of the title to one of this year’s short film nominees should prompt a wave of giggles. John Williams (“The Fabelmans”), up for best score, is the oldest nominee ever, at 90 years old. After historic back-to-back best- director wins by Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), no women were nominated this year for best director. Also don’t expect to see Will Smith at the Oscars anytime soon. After striking Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony, Smith was banned by the film academy from attending for 10 years. In a live Netflix special on Saturday, Rock finally punched back at Smith
with a blistering stand-up set about the incident.
Denver, Colo – The Department of State’s website, www.ColoradoSOS.gov, will be undergoing scheduled upgrades beginning Friday, March 10 at 6 p.m. and continuing as late as Monday, March 13 at 6 a.m.
Online services, including business filings and online voter registration, will be unavailable during this time. Business owners and other filers should complete any online filings before 5 p.m. on March 10.
For information on when this work is completed and services are restored, please visit the Secretary of State’s Office’s Social Media pages by clicking the links below:
DENVER – Today, Governor Jared Polis and Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera honored International Women’s Day and celebrated women’s historic contributions to shaping Colorado. Since day one, Governor Polis and Lieutenant Governor Primavera have worked to build a Colorado for All, and celebrating women’s achievements is an important part of that work. A majority of the Governor’s cabinet and senior staff team are women, and this year, Colorado’s General Assembly is comprised of 50% women.
“We celebrate and honor the bold achievements of Colorado women throughout history who shaped the state we love today and the future we are building for tomorrow. Colorado is proudly the first state that voted by ballot to grant women the right to vote in 1893, 25 years ahead of the rest of the country. This powerful legacy continues to inspire and motivate us today as we work to build a Colorado for All. We are committed to making sure Colorado remains the best place for women and all Coloradans to live, work, and thrive,” said Governor Polis.
“Women are leading in bold ways across our state, including at the Capitol. Today we celebrate those achievements and the pioneering work of the many women that came before us. Through our continued efforts to expand access to affordable high-quality healthcare, promote gender equity, and support women in the workforce, we are making sure all Coloradans can thrive here in our great state,” said Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera.
Despite pandemic-era headwinds facing women in the workplace, CDLE is committed to boosting gender equality and increasing workforce participation
(DENVER) – The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) is marking International Women’s Day (March 8) by highlighting steps Colorado has taken to make it easier for women to thrive in the workforce. From establishing the new Office of the Future of Work (OFW) to addressing demographic shifts, globalization and new technology, to implementing Colorado’s first statewide paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program that will ultimately help new parents and caregivers stay in the workforce, gender equality in the workforce is a priority for the Department.
The initiatives come at a crucial time. Surveys show that women are stepping away from their jobs in unprecedented numbers in a national post-pandemic shift analysts call a “Great Breakup.” And Colorado’s progress in getting more women in board seats has recently slowed, with just 24% of the board seats at Colorado public companies held by women last year.
“CDLE and the OFW are committed to building programs and shaping policy that makes the world of work more accessible and equitable for women,” said Katherine Keegan, Director of the OFW, “Skills-based hiring initiatives, flexible workplace policies, and new work-based learning initiatives create workplaces in which women can thrive and provide the talent Colorado businesses need. We’re meeting that call by supporting employers and job seekers alike through the expansion of the State Apprenticeship Agency, the Digital Equity, Literacy and Inclusion Initiative and the Remote Work Initiative. ”
Keegan will be among the CDLE leaders taking the stage Wednesday to discuss strategies on creating work cultures where women thrive. The event is sponsored by Bossed Up, a Denver-based leadership development and career services company focused on closing the gender leadership gap.
Also joining the discussion are Jade Humphries-Graves, Customer Success Branch Manager, Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Division and Hannah Matthys, PhD, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer at CDLE.
“Keeping women active and engaged with the workforce not only makes our communities stronger, but it makes Colorado families stronger as well,” said Humphries-Graves, Customer Success Branch Manager, Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Division. “Research shows that ensuring new parents have paid time off to care for a new child contributes to a family’s healthy development, improves maternal health, and enhances a family’s economic security. At CDLE we’re building a paid leave program that will ensure working families have access to a crucial benefit that Colorado voters want.”
“CDLE is committed to making the workforce more accessible to ALL women–including women with disabilities, women of color, low-income women, LGBTQ+ women, and women from other marginalized backgrounds,” said Matthys. “Whether it be the expansion of our Disability Program Navigator (DPN) program, or our ongoing workforce development events and training opportunities to build confidence in interviewing and resume writing, our goal is to meet women–and all job seekers–where they are and help bring them where they want to be.”
The sold out event runs from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, at The Commons on Champa, located at 1245 Champa St. in Denver.
Statewide – The Sweetwater Lake partnership will be hosting a virtual public meeting on Monday, March, 6 to update the public on the Sweetwater Lake planning process and get additional feedback from the public to help develop a proposed action for the site.
“Over the last year, the partnership has been working closely to begin creating a long-term management plan for Sweetwater Lake, considering feedback from public meetings in early 2022 and ongoing engagement efforts with the local community,” said CPW Park Manager Mark Lehman. “Concurrently, the partnership has undertaken several projects including the purchase and installation of a new boat dock to improve access to the lake, resource inventories of the property to help guide management decisions, as well as the enhancement of amenities for visitors to the Sweetwater property.”
In addition, the Eagle Valley Land Trust provided funding to hire two Forest Service staff to assist in the maintenance of the site, while working to educate the public on changes to the Sweetwater property.
Spanish interpretation will be offered during the meeting.
Feedback from the meeting will help provide guidance as the partnership works to create management strategies for the lake area to allow for increased public access while protecting the site’s social, natural, cultural resource values.
“This will not be the only opportunity for public comment,” said Eagle-Holy Cross District Ranger Leanne Veldhuis. “Once a proposed action is developed this spring or summer, the Forest Service will initiate an environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act.”
On August 31, 2021 the Forest Service closed on the purchase of the 486-acre Sweetwater Lake area property. Shortly after the purchase, the Sweetwater Lake Partnership was formed between CPW, EVLT, and USFS to create and implement a long-term plan improving public access to Sweetwater Lake, enhance the recreation opportunities historically offered in the Sweetwater Lake area and protect the social and natural characteristics of the area.
Spanish translation
La asociación del lago Sweetwater celebrará una reunión pública virtual el lunes 6 de marzo para poner al día al público sobre el proceso de planificación del lago Sweetwater y obtener más opiniones del público que ayuden a desarrollar una propuesta de actuación para el lugar.
“Durante el último año, la asociación ha estado trabajando estrechamente para comenzar a crear un plan de gestión a largo plazo para el lago Sweetwater, teniendo en cuenta los comentarios de las reuniones públicas a principios de 2022 y los esfuerzos de compromiso en curso con la comunidad local”, dijo el gerente del parque CPW Mark Lehman. “Al mismo tiempo, la asociación ha emprendido varios proyectos, incluida la compra e instalación de un nuevo muelle para botes para mejorar el acceso al lago, inventarios de recursos de la propiedad para ayudar a guiar las decisiones de gestión, así como la mejora de las comodidades para los visitantes de la propiedad de Sweetwater.”
Además, el Eagle Valley Land Trust proporcionó financiación para contratar a dos empleados del Servicio Forestal que ayudarán en el mantenimiento del lugar, al tiempo que trabajarán para educar al público sobre los cambios en la propiedad de Sweetwater.
Se ofrecerá interpretación al español durante la reunión.
Los resultados de la reunión servirán de orientación a la asociación para elaborar estrategias de gestión de la zona del lago que permitan un mayor acceso público y protejan al mismo tiempo los valores sociales, naturales y culturales del lugar.
“Leanne Veldhuis, guardabosques del distrito de Eagle-Holy Cross, ha declarado: “Esta no será la única oportunidad de recibir comentarios del público. “Una vez que se desarrolle una acción propuesta esta primavera o verano, el Servicio Forestal iniciará un proceso de revisión ambiental bajo la Ley Nacional de Política Ambiental”.
El 31 de agosto de 2021, el Servicio Forestal cerró la compra de la propiedad de 486 acres de la zona de Sweetwater Lake. Poco después de la compra, se formó la Asociación del Lago Sweetwater entre CPW, EVLT y USFS para crear e implementar un plan a largo plazo que mejore el acceso público al Lago Sweetwater, mejore las oportunidades de recreación ofrecidas históricamente en el área del Lago Sweetwater y proteja las características sociales y naturales del área.
By Saja Hindi, The Denver Post, and Tina Griego, Colorado News Collaborative
The kitchen table, round and glass, with wooden legs, sits in a sunlit corner of Alejandra Carrera and Clemente Flores’ apartment. It is one of the first things visitors see.
To the outsider, it’s a nice table. To the couple, married 26 years, it’s a symbol of their economic progress over the last decade. They bought it new, on sale, last year. “We have always had to buy second-hand,” Flores said. Puro segundo.
Their Aurora apartment is a newer one-bedroom, small like the others before it. But it is a big improvement from the roach-plagued aging buildings they could afford when they moved to Colorado 13 years ago.
Carrera, 66, and Flores, 67, call their home their “refuge,” the result of hard work, steady jobs and slowly rising incomes.
“Here, where we live now, we can rest when we don’t work and we feel comfortable,” Carrera said.
This is as close to the American Dream as they have ever been, she said.
The couple’s experience mirrors a larger trend of falling poverty rates among Black and Latino Coloradans — as well as their continued struggle toward economic prosperity.
A Colorado News Collaborative/Denver Post analysis of the most recent and historic Census data finds:
Poverty rates for Latino Coloradans have been falling to near-historic lows. The trend, with occasional interruption by economic downturns, continues a more than half-century decline. The pandemic slightly reversed the course, but 2021’s 15% Latino poverty rate was still among the lowest recorded.
The Latino-white poverty gap roughly halved between 2011 and 2021. Only Maine and Iowa, with relatively small Latino populations, saw a greater narrowing of that gap.
Poverty rates for Black Coloradans have generally followed the same trend with nearly one in five living below poverty thresholds in 2021. The Black-white poverty gap narrowed more than in all but seven other states.
White Coloradans’ poverty rates, which have hovered in the high single-digits for decades, fell between 2011 and 2021 to 7%.
Black and Latino children under 18 saw the steepest drops in poverty over the same period, a reflection in part of rising median household incomes and in line with other measurements recording historic declines among children nationwide over the last 25 years.
Despite the falling poverty rates, Latino and Black Coloradans were still about twice as likely to live in poverty as white Coloradans. Black and Latino children were about three times as likely to live in poverty as their white peers.
Reliable data is unavailable for the state’s smaller Asian and Indigenous populations. The Denver Post and COLab examined poverty and other economic data between 2011 and 2021, the most recent Census data available, forChasing Progress, a series on socio-economic and health equity gaps among Black, Latino and white Coloradans.
The drop in Black and Latino poverty rates is, on its face, encouraging, said Charles Brennan, deputy director of research at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.
But he, like economists, community organizers, policymakers, advocates for children, low-wage workers and others, interviewed for this story cautioned that the official poverty threshold is only one measure of economic health. It is based on pre-tax cash income and three times the minimum cost of food in 1963, adjusted for today’s prices.
The more polite critics called the measure “antiquated.”
But the poverty threshold is the basis for government guidelines that help determine access to public assistance, such as food stamps. In 2021, the poverty guideline, adjusted for inflation and identical nationwide, was $26,500 for a family of four.
A real economic struggle exists in the space between official poverty and self-sufficiency, Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas de las Montañas, said. Voces Unidas serves Latino residents in Colorado’s central mountain region, including Vail and Aspen, where many work in the construction, retail and service industries.
Families might be making more than $50,000 a year, he said, but “they are not making enough to make ends meet, much less to thrive. If we are using the same standard to measure poverty for every community in the country and not adapting to the reality of differing costs for housing, food, basic needs, we are not telling a story that is accurate.”
Behind the decline
In 2011, Carrera and Flores were temporary workers, picking up assigned hotel-kitchen jobs. Combined, they made about $29,000, their W-2s show. They were paying about $700 for their apartment in central Aurora. It was run down but affordable.
Colorado was still grappling with Great Recession aftershocks. One in four Latinos and Black Coloradans (and one in 10 white Coloradans) were living in poverty.
Five years later, in 2016, as Colorado’s economy was finding its footing, voters statewide kickstarted a series of annual minimum-wage hikes. (It’s now $13.65 an hour. Denver’s is$17.29 per hour.)
Eva Martinez, 52, in Republic Plaza in Denver for her shift on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Martinez has been a janitor working primarily at Republic Plaza for 29 years in downtown Denver. She is a mother of five. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Among those fighting was Services International Employees Union (SEIU) member Eva Martinez, who has been a janitor at Denver’s Republic Plaza for 29 years.
Her income supplemented her husband Jose’s, an auto detailer, and their growing family of five girls.
Between them, the couple increased their income by more than $20,000 over the last decade. Eva Martinez said she’s now making more than $18 an hour.
“I feel like our lives changed a lot,” she said in Spanish. “I feel like we have a lot more security. I feel like I was lucky that I was able to get a job that was a union job. I feel like that played a huge role in us being able to feel secure.”
The minimum-wage increase was a big boost to the lowest-wage workers, a disproportionate percentage of whom are Black and Latino. The scheduled increases also succeeded in upping minimum wages at a faster rate than the state’s median wages, said Chris Stiffler, senior economist for the “equity-focused” Colorado Fiscal Institute. Within four years, his research found, Colorado had the fifth-highest minimum wage in the country.
Yanili Hernandez, 8 and her sister Itzarli, 9, hold signs of support as their grandmother Maria Hernandez drives with other Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 105 janitors as they drive around the block to protest for better safety measures and higher wages outside of 1801 California Street on May 19, 2020, in Denver. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
As the economy moved into the full flush of its long, slow economic expansion, unemployment hit record lows. Carrera and Flores started new jobs, working at 3 Margaritas, a Mexican restaurant. Their paychecks grew.
That median household income rose and official poverty levels, which are based on pre-tax wages, fell over the last decade is not surprising, Stiffler said.
“Every time you see a rocking economy, you see the poverty rate drop and a boost to wages on the lower end of the spectrum,” he said.
And Colorado was rocking. Between 2011 and 2021, Colorado had the fifth-highest growth in the U.S. in real gross domestic product. The state also had the fifth-highest gain in the nation in per capita income, growing nearly 68% over that time, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Median household income over the decade outstripped inflation.
Still, other factors, direct and indirect, influenced not only how much people were earning over the decade, but also their ability to participate in the labor force in the first place, the COLab/Denver Post analysis of Census and state data found.
The percentage of births to teens plummeted, with a 66% drop for Hispanic teens between 2010 and 2020 and a 56% drop for Black teens in part due to the state’s long-acting reversible contraceptives program.
The share of Black and Latino single-parent families, who are most vulnerable to poverty, fell slightly over the decade.
State demographer Elizabeth Garner also points to pandemic-era aid, including expandedchild tax credits, as a buffer for the worst impacts of a public health and related economic crisis that disproportionately affected Black and Latino Coloradans. And larger demographic forces may be at play, she added, including the relative youth of a growing Latino population entering the labor force as older white residents leave it.
Colorado has also seen an increase in the percentage of households that are “doubling up” — living with related family members, including grown children and grandparents — boosting household incomes. In 2019, more than a quarter of Colorado kids were living in doubled-up households, according to a report by Colorado State University’s Colorado Futures Center.
Overall, the decade was good to Valerie Harris and her husband, Forris, a Black couple living in Aurora.
“We’re definitely in a better position today than we were 10 years ago,” she said.
In 2011, they were making around $65,000 together and had five children at home. They had some financially tough years after that — her husband was laid off and took a lower-paying job; she had to stop working temporarily in her job as a certified nursing assistant for health reasons — but they are now in a more stable position with three kids still at home. Her husband has a better-paying job at the Veterans Administration. She is working as a certified nursing assistant, has started her own business, Silver Lining Promotions and Management, and does tax preparation on the side. They are now making almost double what they once did, she said.
‘Renting this lifestyle’
The Harrises saw their household income rise because of higher-paying work, but also because Valerie Harris has worked multiple jobs for the past decade.
The Martinezes reached financial stability because Jose Martinez worked six days a week. He worked days and Eva worked nights, so they didn’t have to pay for child care. With three of their daughters and a grandson living with them, they still work alternate schedules.
“This is also very hard because we sacrifice our relationship,” Jose Martinez said.
Carerra and Flores have yet to find stability. Their income increased by about $13,500 between 2011 and 2021, according to their W-2s. But Carrera said she sometimes works 60 hours a week because she is healthier than her husband. She also sells jewelry and food to pad their income.
It’s not enough.
The Carrera-Floreses are paying $1,675 a month for their 700-sq.ft. one-bedroom. Then there are the $584 monthly car payments, car insurance, medical bills, utilities, gas and food. Both have diabetes and other health issues. They go to Metro Caring monthly for food. Some months, they cut back on Carrera’s blood-pressure medication, though insulin is non-negotiable. And some months, they turn to the credit card. Their boss, friends and even customers sometimes help them out.
What separates Carrera, Flores, the Harrises and the Martinezes are housing costs. The Martinezes paid off their home in 2018. Flores and Carrera are paying more than double their rent in 2011, almost half their income.
The Harrises lost their home to foreclosure in the Great Recession and now pay nearly $2,400 in rent for a small house.
The couple is again working toward homeownership, a primary driver of generational wealth. According to 2021 five-year American Community Survey data, about four in 10 Black Coloradans were homeowners. (In comparison, more than 70% of white Coloradans were homeowners and 54% of Latinos.)
Her family may be doing better, Valerie Harris said, but Black Coloradans as a whole are not.
Valerie Harris, right, organizes mail and bills after her arriving home from work in Aurora on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
“We don’t own more homes. We don’t own more businesses. We just have more jobs. That’s not better.”
She said it feels as though Black Coloradans are “renting this lifestyle” with less ownership, and therefore, “no control over our future or our destiny.”
The fragility of economic stability became evident during the pandemic. Harris, immunocompromised, had to leave her job, so they relied on unemployment and her husband’s income. The restaurant that employed Carrera and Flores closed for a month before switching to take-out. The couple took a payday loan, got a two-month grace period on their car payments and fell behind on their electric bill.
To get a better handle on how people are doing, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy uses the University of Washington School of Social Work‘s Center for Women’s Welfare’s Self-Sufficiency Standard. Calibrated for each of the state’s 64 counties and for various family sizes and types, it takes into account the cost of housing, child care, food, health care, transportation, taxes and tax credits.
The 2022 reportcalculates that one adult in Arapahoe County needed to earn $38,089 to cover basic needs – slightly less than what Flores and Carrera earned combined.
In Denver, a single adult with one preschooler and one child in school needed to earn more than $40 an hour full-time to meet basic needs. In Summit County, served by Voces Unidas, that same family had to earn $103,225 a year, or 448% of the federal poverty guidelines. The authors of the Self Sufficiency Standard, who refer to the poverty threshold as a better measure of “deprivation,” emphasize that their own measure includes no frills — no movie nights, no dinner out.
The fact that Black and Latino poverty rates have remained significantly higher than white speaks to “a long history of people of color being deprived of economic opportunity that was given to white people,” said Sarah Hughes, former research director for the Colorado Children’s Campaign.
The poverty rates, she added, are a reflection of interconnected policies and programs that have deprived people of color the same opportunities to build wealth, from redlining to higher-interest loans to inadequate school funding and lack of access to quality health care.
“Oftentimes, when people look at disparities, they often jump to individual-level explanations rather than systemic explanations when we know systemic issues are really at the root,” she said.
Eva Martinez at her home in Lakewood on Jan. 24, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Closing the gaps
The bottom line, the 2022 Self-Sufficiency Standard report says, is that two ways exist to get people to self-sufficiency: lower costs or higher incomes.
Closing the equity gaps needs to be at the center of both, Nita Gonzales, a longtime community leader in Denver, said.
“Society has to know that it will not tolerate inequity as the norm,” she said. “It will not tolerate houseless relatives as the norm. It will not tolerate children that go to bed hungry as the norm. It will not tolerate people who do not have a health care home as the norm. Society has to say it’s unacceptable.”
Scott Wasserman, president of the progressive Bell Policy Center, said that the decline in poverty rates is “super encouraging when we think about raising the floor. … Where we’re stumbling is that next step.”
The focus needs to be on structural barriers to equity like housing equity and its role in creating intergenerational wealth, he said.
Affordable housing is dominating the current legislative session as well as the Denver City Council and mayoral races. Among the suggested solutions: land-use reforms, rent control, giving cities and counties dibs on apartment buildings for sale to make rents affordable.
Advocates and experts also point to expanded access to no or low-cost early childhood education as a solution that not only benefits children but parents and the economy as a whole. Colorado ranks eighth in the country for most expensive child care, with an average annual cost of $15,325, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
“We … know that when you help the child, then the parent has the ability to go to school, to go to work and to be much more productive than they have ever been,” said Elsa Holguín, president and CEO of the Denver Preschool program.
But advocates say there’s much more to be done, and lawmakers are looking to expand state income tax relief for families with children.
Federal safety net programs are also critical, advocates for families said. Colorado’s Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have argued that the expanded child tax credit, a pandemic safety net, should have been made permanent.
The tax credit “lifted 2.9 million children out of poverty” during the pandemic, U.S. Census Bureau researchers found in a 2022 analysis of its impact. A Child Trends analysis, using the same data, found the federal safety net — earned income tax credits, food stamps, Social Security, cash public assistance, housing subsidies and other programs — has played an increasingly larger role in the “astounding decline” of child poverty since 1993.
Without assisting families with child care costs, housing and health care, Wasserman said he doesn’t believe all Coloradans’ economic prosperity can improve.
Carrera and Flores said they dream of eventually being able to own a three-bedroom home with a backyard, where they can cook the foods they love and sell some of it to make money.
“We are old,” Carrera said. But what they don’t have in time, she said, they have in faith that the ability to “achieve our dreams” is still within reach.
Burt Hubbard and Rossana Longo contributed to this report.
Chasing Progress is a Colorado News Collaborative-led multi-newsroom reporting project examining the social, economic, and health equity of Black and Latino Coloradans over the last decade. The project builds off 2013’s “Losing Ground,” an I-News/RMPBS series that tracked similar measures from 1960-2010.
Colorado There is a lot happening at the Colorado General Assembly since we have approached the one-third mark of this legislative session. Legislators have been busy in committees ironing out the details of numerous bills that would affect agriculture before they head to the House and Senate floors. We have also seen some pretty lively debates on the chamber floors as representatives and senators have debated bills and amendments. Some of these debates have caused floor votes for bills like HB23-1011—Consumer Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment to be postponed to later dates. HB23-1011 is currently slated to have second readings done this Friday, February 17. Here are a few bills we have been/are currently are monitoring:
HB23-1008—Food Accessibility—With changes made to some tax credits, this bill provides funding for a statewide nonprofit to manage a health eating incentive program, increase funding to the business recovery and resilience grant manage by the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and establish a tax credit that will allow small family farms and small retailers to offset some of the costs for essential equipment. The focus of this bill has been to improve conditions for small family farms and small retailers in order to address food insecurity issues across the state. The bill passed the House Finance Committee early this week.
HB23-1087—Fiscal Rule Advance Payment Charitable Food Grants—This bill, which is aimed at giving charitable organizations the ability forward contract with farmers and ranchers in order to resolve issues surrounding the discrepancy between fiscal year deadlines and growing seasons, passed the House Agriculture, Water, and Natural Resources Committee last week. It passed the House this week and will now move to the Senate.
We are also happy to say that both SB23-044—Veterinary Education Loan Repayment Program and SB23-050—Eligibility for Agricultural Future Loan Program have passed the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee late last week. SB23-050 also passed the Senate on Valentine’s Day and will move to the House.
The sunset hearing for the Pesticide Applicators Act will be held this Wednesday. Representatives from RMFU will be there to ensure that the integrity of the bill is being preserved and that it will remain in alignment with RMFU policy.
SB23-038—Prohibit Equine Slaughter for Human Consumption—This bill is aimed at outlawing the transportation of equine for the purpose of slaughter for human consumption as well as the slaughter of equine for human consumption. Our policy is clear that we support equine slaughter for human consumption so long as it meets the same USDA standards as other meat. We currently oppose this bill, which will be heard before the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee this Thursday, February 16.
For more information about the bills we have been and are continuing to monitor in Colorado, please check out the Colorado Bill Tracker.
