Denver's Latino community working towards solutions amid rising costs, workforce shortages

Affordability continues to be a major concern for Coloradans, and for many Latino families, the pressure is only growing.

Community leaders, business owners and advocates met in Denver over the weekend looking for solutions to rising costs, workforce shortages, and immigration challenges. The goal is to turn real-life struggles into policy change and support families.

For more than a decade, Camelia Robles and her family have run restaurants like Coco Pirata, serving their community. But now, customers are cutting back.

"If we don't have the cash flow coming in, it's hard to keep employees or maintain the same hiring process we had in prior years," said Robles. 

Robles says they've had to cut hours for about 15% of their staff across nine restaurants and are seeing a 20% drop in revenue.

She says fears about immigration enforcement are also making it harder to attract staff and customers, which is why they've held off on raising menu prices.

"We've been trying to do that for so long, but at some point, our community has to survive, pay rent, pay bills and keep going," said Robles. 

More than half of Latino voters in Colorado say they're struggling to afford basic needs even as Latinos contribute more than $40 billion to the state's economy each year, according to UnidosUS.

Local business owners say they're seeing that strain in businesses, according to Maria Gonzalez with Adelante Community Development.

"We've had businesses, especially in Commerce City, where immigration enforcement was present outside their buildings," said Gonzalez. 

Nonprofits like Adelante Community Development provide resources to small businesses, but they're struggling too. The organization says it lost a $6 million federal grant, forcing cuts to staff and programs and making it harder to help.

"With the lack of funding to nonprofits and support for businesses, it's going to be a very negative situation within our communities," said Gonzalez. 

During a community-led conversation hosted by UnidosUS, the focus was on turning concerns into real policy solutions and helping restaurant owners like Robles stay afloat.

Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says change starts with engagement.

"People need to get engaged, get informed and take action," Salazar said.

He says that action could show up at the ballot box this November and in 2028.