Colorado launches interagency employment assistance program

DENVER — The Colorado Department of Human Services announced a new interagency collaborative program that will connect Coloradans facing significant barriers to employment with job opportunities.

The Colorado Works Subsidized Training and Employment Program, or CW STEP, will launch in January 2018 and will help connect at-risk populations eligible for basic cash assistance from Colorado Works with work opportunities and experience.

CW STEP will be administered locally with state contractors working with county departments of human services and community-based resources to offer a variety of ways to boost workforce development. For local area contractors were selected to operate the program from Jan. 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. For Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties, among others, the Front Range Alliance was selected.

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Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado, Rio Grande County Department of Social Services and Hilltop Community Resources Inc. were the other three agencies selected.

CW STEP is meant to help participants work toward earning a living wage, secure permanent employment and ultimately have a better economic future for their families.

The program will offer several areas of support, including transitional jobs, on-the-job training, apprenticeships, internships and subsidized employment, which includes time-limited, paid work for chronically unemployed or underemployed individuals to establish work history and develop workplace skills.

“Colorado is known for pioneering and developing new ideas and programs that keep our state’s economy booming,” Katie Griego, director of the Division of Employment and Benefits at CDHS, said in a prepared statement. “Unemployment in our state may be down, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop launching new initiatives to put more Colorado families on the path to a stronger more secure economic future. We’re going to keep working to improve the quality of life for everyone in our state.”

CDHS will open the application process in early 2018 for two additional contractors to operate local portions of the program.