Employer Partner Newsletter
A quarterly update from your workforce partners at
Focus Points Family Resource Center
Second Round of BIO Fund Applications Now Open
Mile High United Way’s United for Business program and Denver’s Economic Development & Opportunity Office have released a new round of BIO Fund grant dollars. This fund targets small businesses who have been challenged by changing neighborhood conditions and demographics as well as major public infrastructure and construction impacts. Specifically, the BIO Fund program seeks to help impacted businesses stabilize and to assist them towards achieving long term sustainability through a combination of financial and technical assistance.
Businesses eligible to receive assistance from the BIO Fund must meet each of the following criteria:
- For-profit businesses registered with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office
- Businesses located in the following neighborhoods: Globeville, Elyria, Swansea, Northeast Park Hill, Cole, and Clayton neighborhoods
- 25 or fewer employees
- Annual gross revenue of $2 million or less (pre-construction impact)
- Businesses engaged in activities that are legal under both Colorado state and federal law
- Businesses that meet the technical qualifications to participate in the program, including time in business and ability to provide financial records
- Experienced a revenue decrease of 20% in one quarter as compared to the same quarter prior to the start of construction
Contact the United for Business team to learn more about the program, its eligibility requirements and/or to apply.
United for Business
720-501-3920
Candidate Spotlight
Since October, our team has been working with Alexis Rios, who has come to the US from Venezuela with extensive experience in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industry. Alexis brings a wealth of skillsets in cost control, risk management, plant operations, bilingual communication, and more. With a Master of Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and competencies in SAP, budget forecasting, and cost estimation, Alexis is eager to contribute his skills in a local company. He is currently exploring opportunities to continue his career near his new home here in Denver!
If you believe that Alexis’ skillset and background would be an asset to your company, please contact Hilda Hernandez at hilda@focuspoints.org.
Workforce Success Stories
This year Hector Delgado completed his Hydro Farm Apprenticeship with partner, Metro Caring. During his apprenticeship, Hector assisted in full operations of the hydroponic shipping container farm at Metro Caring. Hector’s duties included maintenance of farm equipment, including all hydroponic system components such as water pumps, filters, air filters, and dehumidifier. He oversaw planting and transplanting schedules, sanitization and maintenance schedules of two separate hydroponic systems, and plant deficiency identification. His daily work also included identifying inefficiencies in daily operations and identifying solutions. Hector’s supervisor described him as “a quick learner, hard worker, and clear communicator. He is responsible, punctual, and has integrity in his work”.
The farm that Hector worked in is a shipping container farm made by Freight Farms and is designed to grow around 2,400 plants at a time in vertical grow towers. Hector would like to thank the Workforce team for all the help he received along the way.
Excellent work Hector!
This year, Focus Points Workforce was able to reintroduce Camilo Calvache to the industry he built his career in. NICX Co, a valued Employer Partner of Focus Points Workforce, is a telecommunications network infrastructure company co-owned by Erica Porter and Scott Wendland.
Several months after supporting Camilo with his resume and introducing the opportunity through our Employer Partner network, Camilo is “grateful because [he] can carry out what [he] studied in his country and improve his level of English. Every project that [they] execute in the company allows him to deepen his experience and learn new technologies.”
We’re proud to be a part of your journey Camilo!
In The News
Prosper CO is committed to making Colorado the best place to live, work and do business – no matter your race, ethnicity or gender. A joint initiative launched in 2019 by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, and Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, Prosper CO brings together the public, private and nonprofit sectors to identify, understand and eliminate the barriers to opportunity in Colorado.
Click HERE to see to the top 10 actions you can take to create an economy for all.
Help us help you!
Regularly sharing newly posted positions for hire with our team is a great way to diversify and increase your talent pool!
We welcome any feedback you may have to make these publications a more useful resource for your company to benefit from our workforce program. To provide feedback or opt out of receiving our newsletter notices each quarter, please email workforce@focuspoints.org.
