DENVER — Denver’s plan to outsource its entire response to migrants arriving from the southern border died before it even got a vote.
Instead of giving $40 million to a security company to run the program, now local community groups are pleading with the city to give them the funds.
"I know you don’t have the capacity. Let us do it. We love doing this. We can do it. We know who needs what," said Yoli Casas, who runs Vive Wellness.
As the city changes leaders, the new people in charge seem to support that plan.
For months Casas and her organization have helped thousands of migrants. Today, she feels something she’s never felt.
"Absolutely, more optimistic today than ever," Casas said. "Today they listened. And I’m glad they did."
On Tuesday morning, Casas met with city leaders and other community groups to talk about what Denver’s migrant response should look like moving forward. She said the nonprofits told the city they can handle it if they get more funding.
"Perhaps when we were doing this before, there was no funding. But if you give us funding, we have the capability. We are experts in this field," Casas said.
Denver just scrapped a $40 million plan to outsource its entire migrant response to a massive east coast security company called GardaWorld Federal Services.
City Council President Jamie Torres supports keeping the money and the response local. So do several incoming councilmembers.
"I think the solution is to continue through that thread, connecting with local partners who deeply care about this community," Torres told 9NEWS.
Mayor-elect Mike Johnston and his transition team are hosting a town hall event on immigration Tuesday evening to get feedback from the community on how to proceed. Johnston’s team has hinted that he will continue to work with nonprofits and local organizations. Combine that with a city council that seems to be very much against outsourcing the response, and we’re starting to get a good idea about what direction the city will take under the next administration.
"They all feel that we can do this," Casas said, speaking of the community groups in Denver. "And we definitely don’t need someone who doesn’t know us, who doesn’t understand the culture, who hasn’t even been here since the beginning."
Denver put out a request for proposals earlier this year asking for bids to run the city’s migrant response. Casas said local community groups wanted to put in a proposal, but what the city was asking for made it clear they were looking for a massive company instead of a bunch of small groups working together. Now they’re hoping they get a chance to show the city what they can do.
While we don’t have a lot of people arriving to the city right now, what everyone agrees on is that Denver needs a different plan. Both the city and community groups agree that how Denver handled migrant arrivals earlier this year isn’t sustainable.
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