Helping Denver’s poor launch careers and small businesses
Denver residents Claudia Hernandez and Ignacio Rosas face rising costs as their four children reach their teens and look ahead to attending college, which looks financially impossible.
But they have a plan for moving their family ahead.
They have decided to start their own businesses. After moving from Mexico a couple decades ago, Rosas settled into a job, earning $20 an hour, repairing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems — and now reckons he could run his own company. Hernandez envisions a cleaning business, initially working solo then hiring others.
The couple turned to Denver’s Mi Casa Resource Center for guidance. On a recent morning in Mi Casa’s headquarters, at 345 S. Grove St. in southwest Denver, Hernandez and Rosas were seated at a table presenting their plan to a business adviser.
Mi Casa serves about 1,800 low-income residents each year, providing training and expertise for launching careers and small businesses. Typical clients earn less than $20,000 a year before they seek help and include mostly Latinas, although Mi Casa also serves others, including migrants from Africa. For 45 years, Mi Casa has helped metro Denver’s most vulnerable residents find “pathways” to success. It is one of the programs that receives support through the Denver Post Community Foundation’s Season to Share program.
“We don’t want to just place people into minimum-wage jobs,” chief executive Angeles Ortega said. “We want to place people into careers where they can build intergenerational wealth.”
The idea is to enable home ownership and create stability so children can embark on pathways of their own. It’s an uphill battle, Ortega said, pointing to demographic data showing widening U.S. wealth gaps.
Large companies and highly funded tech startups seem easily to attract funding. Yet locally owned small businesses, typically run by women who manage expenses on their personal credit cards, play key roles in neighborhoods, Ortega said. “And they usually don’t get venture capital investment at all.”
Beyond career and business training, Mi Casa’s headquarters, built in 2017, also contains a 42-unit housing complex called Terraza Del Sol with rents as low as $506 a month — depending on family income and family size. The place has a patio, fitness equipment and a kitchen.
Mi Casa caseworkers provide more than one-time consultations. They also respond to calls from clients as they embark on their pathways. For example, bilingual business adviser Javier Martinez recently was providing crisis support for an 82-year-old woman who had run a hairstyling shop since 1964 and needed quick guidance. She had been closed since the pandemic began last year and now was behind on rent. She was facing demands, and her only income is monthly Social Security payments of $534. Her husband had died, and she wanted to sell the company and avoid declaring bankruptcy.
Distress such as this has became common during the pandemic, Martinez said. “It does seem like a lot of people are frantic, facing stressful situations.”
Obstacles encountered as clients work to shape their futures can feel overwhelming. Mi Casa’s team helps break down the obstacles into manageable solutions.
“We cannot afford to pay for their college now,” Hernandez told business adviser Mark Wideman, who previously ran a real estate business in Arizona, of the couple’s four children.
Rosas said he hoped to earn at least $1,000 more each month by starting his own company. Wideman listened and said that sounded reasonable, and took notes. He told the couple he would try to guide them step by step.
Two of their children recently graduated from high school. Two more will do so in coming years.
Wideman asked if they knew about financial aid. Depending on family income, their high school graduates could be eligible. This came as news, and Hernandez instantly was wanting to know more from college officials. “How can I connect with them?”