ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES IN MONTBELLO – ISSUES AND OPTIONS – PART 1
What Does The Future Hold?
It’s a perfect storm. All the elements are coming
By Donna Garnett
A second issue impacting this neighborhood is that of jobs and the lack of those for many Montbello citizens. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released the Denver Area Economic Summary for August, 2016. Denver, at an unemployment rate 3.0 still fares better than the national rate of 5.0. The summary data is not specific to the Montbello zip code, but anecdotal data suggests that those statistics do not reflect Montbello. “I am concerned about the number of young men, especially young men of color, that I see wandering the neighborhood every day,” says Terry Liggins from Montbello Organizing Committee’s Leadership Council. “When I talk to these young men, it is not that they are not looking for jobs, but there are so many barriers to their securing a job. Those barriers can be lack of transportation, poor educational background, past brushes with the law, and so on.” Liggins chairs the MOC Transportation Task Team which has worked tirelessly with RTD over the past year to ensure that bus routes continue to serve the needs of the neighborhood despite the opening of the commuter rail and the closing of the Park and Ride. One way that RTD can work with the community is through the regional Workforce Initiative Now (WIN). WIN is a collaborative partnership between RTD, Community College of Denver (CCD), Denver Transit Partners (DTP) and the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver. WIN helps job seekers, companies, and local communities through demand-driven workforce services and the creation of career pathway opportunities in the transportation and construction industries. MOC’s Transportation Team is planning a “get a job fair” before the end of the year to reach out to those who are unemployed or looking to improve their employment. The vision for the fair goes beyond the typical job fair in that the objective will be to help applicants leave the event with a job in hand. Working with WIN and other business owners in the community, such as those in the cannabis industry, this vision can be accomplished. Recent conversations with representatives from the cannabis industry have been enlightening to even the toughest dissenter. These business owners extol the virtues of Montbello’s industrial center west of Peoria, touting the attractiveness and safety. These responsible business men and women are eager to give back to the community and are eager to hire people who live within easy walking distance in a myriad of jobs – accounting, human resources, marketing and public relations, cultivators, managers, and so on. These Jobs come with decent pay, benefits, and opportunities for continuing education. These conversations should lead to more discussion about how to capitalize on the assets of Montbello’s industrial area and how to woo other industries to that location. These are only a few of the opportunities inundating Montbello currently. As leaders move forward, they and the residents will need to be thoughtful, creative, and intentional. Each of these opportunities can be a blessing or can spell the end of this charming community rich with diversity and brimming with pride and dignity. As many a wise elder has advised, “be careful what you wish for.” Metaphorically speaking, Montbello, be careful what you ask for. A heavy rain storm can be the saving grace for a garden, but it can also ruin a picnic. What will it be Montbello – a perfect storm or a perfect miss?
together in a powerful and focused way. Except in this case it’s not a hurricane or a winter blizzard. It is a “storm of opportunity” and Montbello is directly in the path of the storm. “The time is right now for this community that has been skipped over and historically excluded,” KSolutions owner, Khadija Haynes remarks in a phone interview with representatives of a national foundation. KSolutions is a locally-owned governmental, corporate and community relations firm has been working with the Montbello Organizing Committee to make sure Montbello is not a storm victim, but rather storm-chasers. Across the community, groups like Montbello Organizing Committee (MOC), Montbello 20/20, Far Northeast Health Alliance, Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy and Research Organization (CLLARO), Far Northeast Neighbors and others have worked to enjoin their neighbors in efforts to improve education, take on health disparities, address transit, and bring fresh food to this food desert. Those efforts are finally paying off as local leaders including Mayor Hancock, Denver City Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore, Denver Office of Economic Development head, Paul Washington, among others, have turned their attention to Montbello with dedicated staff and resources. The attention doesn’t stop there. Funders locally and from across the nation are focused on Denver’s Montbello neighborhood. With this focus comes attention in the form of funding and technical assistance. Recent grants from the Denver Foundation, Mile High Connects, Chinook, Colorado Health Foundation, Livewell Colorado, and Kresge Foundation are but a few of the contributors that have stepped into the gap with monetary resources to foster the work and passion of the residents of this community. This article will address two economic opportunities within the community and identify a few of the issues and options characteristic of those opportunities. In coming months, the MUSE will feature several other economic opportunities and the issues and options that accompany those. First, economic development opportunities in the form of housing development abound in and around Montbello. Drive along 48th Avenue/Green Valley Ranch Boulevard and see the vast number of multi-family units under construction. These housing units are an indicator of what is to come with more than 1,200 units expected to be built in Montbello, Gateway, and Green Valley Ranch in the next year. This growth is in part, a response to the impending construction of Denver’s Aerotropolis. The new development is expected to create thousands of middle and high wage jobs and those employees will want a place to live. Hopefully, many of these new jobs will be filled by current residents, but realistically, a substantial number will be filled by people from other communities and even from out of state. As the new Aerotropolis (“Airport City”) takes shape between Montbello and Denver International Airport, the economic impact to the immediate area is projected to be around $29 billion. The question is how will that good fortune impact Montbello? Already investors are trolling the neighborhood, buying up properties and renting them out in the short term, waiting for the opportunity to sell at a higher profit to those who will be eager to get a home at a good price near the developing Aerotropolis. At the outset, this looks like a good deal for those who are making a modest profit on the home that they have owned for years. But many long-term residents have remarked, “Where would I go? Even with the money I make on my house, I can’t afford to buy anywhere else in Denver.”
Editor’s Note. Montbello Organizing Committee welcomes participation at all levels. If you are interested in hands-on action and in shaping Montbello’s future, contact montbellonews@gmail.com for information on task teams, upcoming events and activities, and involvement in developing the MUSE. Be sure to Like MOC at Montbello Organizing Committee Facebook Page.
MUSE - Montbello Urban Spectrum Edition - November/December 2016
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