Boulder Chamber, CO-Labs, Workforce BoCo to examine federal cuts

BOULDER — The Boulder Chamber is partnering with CO-Labs Inc., a consortium of Colorado’s federal laboratories, and Workforce Boulder County, a local governmental department that provides information and services businesses and jobseekers, to study the potential effects of federal funding cuts proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration and build a gameplan for providing resources to impacted businesses and workers. 

Economic stability and scientific innovation “is threatened when we start talking about the types of adjustments that have been threatened by this administration,” Boulder Chamber CEO John Tayer told BizWest. 

Federally funded research, government services and related business collaborations account for more than $2.3 billion in annual economic activity in the Boulder region, the chamber estimates. 

“The scientific research occurring at federal labs in Boulder and the Front Range ensure our most basic societal needs are provided for, such as clean water, food production, extreme weather mitigation and public health programs. Research in Boulder labs and institutes also serve our country’s more aspirational goals in quantum computing, renewable energy provision, bioscience, aerospace technologies and much more,” CO-Labs executive director Dan Powers said in a prepared statement. “We’re alarmed at the administration’s legally dubious funding freezes, indiscriminate layoffs and unclear Department of Government Efficiency processes that have caused turmoil in our national research agencies and hobbled projects with private-sector partners. This is a self-inflicted setback to the United States’ innovation leadership that our country cannot afford.”

While the Trump administration’s approach to slashing federal funding has been scattershot and faces numerous legal challenges, Boulder area workers have already begun losing their jobs, according to a report this week by the Boulder Reporting Lab.

“At this point, it isn’t clear what the overall vision is for some of the cuts that we’ve heard about and have been suggested,” Tayer said. “We’re scratching our heads and trying to understand how best to articulate the devastation that they might cause for our economy” and societally beneficial scientific advancements. 

In an effort to gather more information, the Boulder Chamber and its partners have launched a Federal Transition Analysis & Resources website, where, the chamber said, “individuals with direct knowledge of federal funding disruptions and policy changes are being asked to share the workforce and program implications. This web page also will serve as a resource for data analysis on the economic and workforce impacts to the Boulder region of federal administrative actions during this transition period. Support resources and information also will be available, and updated regularly, on this web page to assist both affected employees and agencies.”

The chamber and its partners are “going to try to record analysis of the impacts and get that distributed as soon as possible,” Tayer said, in hopes of providing a comprehensive set of resources for affected businesses and workers.

“The precise actions that we take will depend on what resources are appropriate for the circumstance,” he said. “But it starts with making sure our impacted workforce has the resources they need to identify other employment opportunities.”

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