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Denver [Change Location]

Economic town hall offers help for hard times

Article Contributed on: 2/24/2009 9:55:13 AM

Well more than 100 job seekers, small business owners and concerned citizens spilled over into extra seats at the East High School cafeteria Feb. 19 for State Rep. Beth McCann's economic town hall meeting.

The meeting included panelists from the city and state as well as the private sector to discuss the economic crisis, what challenges are still to come and what opportunities are available to citizens through local programs and from funds coming into the state through the federal government's stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Paula Gomez Farrell, director of the Division of Workforce Development at the Denver Office of Economic Development encouraged attendees to visit the OED for help retraining for new jobs, improving résumés and more. She pointed out that with federal stimulus money incoming, energy, health care and construction were all good fields for job seekers.

Tim Powers, communications director of the Colorado Bankers Association (CBA) began the discussion with a rundown on the origins of the economic crisis. According to Powers, problems began with an expansion of home ownership, fueled by easy credit and risky loans. In many cases, depository banks would make loans and sell that debt to less regulated bank-like financial institutions, such as Lehman Brothers.

These institutions would buy up many mortgages on leveraged money - that is, with borrowed money or on credit, enabling them to make loans or investments with many times more money than they possess.

So long as homeowners continue to make payments, money continues to come in and institutions remain stable. But in hard economic times, when they fail to make payments and homes are foreclosed, the lending institution is quickly crushed beneath its own debt.

Powers made a point of differentiating these bank-like institutions and depository banks, "real banks," as he called them, and the credit available from them.

Contrary to popular perception, he said, "credit is available. Banks are lending." He pointed to figures showing that lending in Colorado is actually on the rise and that banks across the state are seeking to increase the figure even more.


Where to get help

The economic town hall meeting featured programs from a variety of state and local departments to help people cope with hard times, from help with jobs to small business assistance. Here's where to start.

Employment Assistance:
Denver's Office of Economic Development offers career assistance, resume building, certification programs and special assistance for youth, the disabled, veterans and more.

Office of Economic Development locations:

DIA
5th floor, main terminal
8500 Pena Blvd.

Quigg Newton Community Learning Center
4440 Navajo St.

Parkway Professional Building
1391 N. Speer Blvd., Suite 500

Stapleton Plaza
3401 Quebet St., Suite 7700

Richard T Castro building
1200 Federal Blvd.

For more information, go to www.milehigh.com or call 720-913-1999.

Small Business Assistance

The Office of Economic Development can assist with gap financing for starting a business. See locations above.

Numerous financing and tax incentives exist for businesses starting in areas covered under the Denver Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative or the Denver Enterprise Zone State Tax Credit Program. To learn more about the marketplace initiative, go to www.milehigh.com/neighborhoodmarketplace. For more on the enterprise zone, go to www.taxcolorado.com or call 720-913-1623.

Colorado's Small Business Development Center offers free education, training and assistance. For more information, go to http://www.coloradosbdc.org/.

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