Friday, September 25, 2026, 10:15 a.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
This was day five of the Denver City Council's budget hearings, featuring a presentation from the Denver Development and Opportunity Office (DDO) on its 2027 budget. The presenting executive outlined the office's two pillars of business development and workforce development, the Denver Jobs Agenda (Launch Denver, Build Denver, Open Denver, Work Denver), and a budget philosophy of focusing limited general fund dollars on core functions and priority populations and neighborhoods. The budget is essentially flat compared to 2026, with roughly 90% of funding coming from outside the general fund. Council members questioned the director on the uncertain funding for the construction business
0:29 In SEPTEMBER 20 2026. Dolly
0:35 Parton We are day 5 our budget
0:36 hearings on the saying that
0:37 just want get to go back to to
0:41 be a different song. I have my
0:42 dog. Current bench is not that
0:48 so that. I please don't take
0:56 my mentally for me is ok still
1:00 might moving fortunate. We 5
1:01 of budget hearings with gets
1:06 us a little it than normal. We
1:10 to Denver, Development and
1:11 Opportunity Office here.
1:13 Excited to hear your
1:14 presentation before we do
1:15 Let's start with the
1:16 deductions beginning with the
1:18 distinguished gentleman
1:20 online. Good morning. Paul
1:20 Kashmann shout Time tradition.
1:25 6. That so we're going unlike
1:29 our net chief operating
1:30 officer, a dressed in
1:31 redistricting, Senate is also
1:32 can U.S. Councilmember large.
1:35 I don't watch and fine
1:38 district 9 play in Southwest
1:46 to Denver's district sites.
1:48 The partners come do this just
1:49 to the Mansour District Jamie
1:53 Torres was Denver District to
1:56 be lucky district? Had a
1:57 financial officer, I forgot to
2:00 introduce myself. I'm Chris
2:00 Hines representing Diversity
2:02 Council district, $10 per GOD,
2:06 please take it away thank you
2:08 so much, COUNCILMAN Hines,
2:08 happy to give you an overview
2:12 on today's budget. Today's
2:13 presentation of a little under
2:14 the weather today? So I
2:16 apologize for that in advance.
2:17 We're going to start off with
2:19 a little bit of overview on
2:21 the agency giving a
2:22 description of the work that
2:22 we do, what our strategic
2:24 priorities are for this next
2:26 year and how that aligns with
2:28 the budget in terms of our
2:28 mission, it really is focused
2:29 on creating an economy that
2:32 works for everyone. We work
2:34 with tens of thousands of
2:35 individuals and job seekers on
2:36 an annual basis and we work
2:39 with thousands of businesses
2:39 and really prioritize at work
2:42 where the need is greatest.
2:44 And we consolidated that work
2:45 into 2 divisions within the
2:47 agency really around workforce
2:49 development and business
2:50 development. And you'll hear
2:51 this throughout the
2:52 presentation. The focus of our
2:54 work is really geared around
2:56 jobs. So how are we doing
2:58 everything we can to attain
2:59 attract jobs, to retain jobs
3:01 and to grow jobs. Here in
3:03 Denver. And what are we doing
3:04 with our population and
3:05 residents here in Denver to
3:07 ensure that they have the
3:07 skills necessary to be able to
3:11 move in the quality jobs. And
3:16 so this is strategic framework
3:17 we developed last year kind of
3:18 post our restructuring after
3:19 we had some of the cuts that
3:21 we saw in 2025. And it really
3:25 focused our work on this idea
3:26 of how do we generate our
3:28 mission, how we create a
3:30 it's really about idea of
3:30 healthy economy and for us,
3:33 pathways to prosperity. If we
3:34 can increase earnings, we can
3:35 increase the number of
3:37 individuals that have access
3:39 to benefits and we can focus
3:40 our work with those priority
3:42 populations, neighborhoods and
3:44 businesses. It allows us to be
3:45 able to bring more individuals
3:46 out of poverty, provide more
3:47 access and opportunity and
3:48 really drive that healthy
3:51 economy. And that is founded
3:52 upon these 2 ideas of business
3:54 development. Workforce
3:56 development with job growth
3:56 and job creation being at the
3:58 center of that as well as
4:01 ensuring ban that our
4:02 workforce development programs
4:06 are aligned with. That just
4:07 want to recognition to a
4:08 couple of our key leaders here
4:10 that are at toe Tony Anderson,
4:11 who leads our workforce
4:13 division, our chief workforce
4:14 officer are Kavanaugh who has
4:18 our co with the organization
4:20 fan to who is on our finance
4:21 team Martine, who leads
4:25 Marco He's sitting in the back
4:25 legislative affairs work to
4:26 as our chief business
4:29 development officer. And so
4:30 the really works more
4:32 collaboratively than before
4:33 and ensuring that we are
4:34 working together towards that
4:38 main goals. And this speaks to
4:41 as we look at our priorities
4:42 for Twenty-twenty these are
4:44 outlined in terms our specific
4:47 were clients which are
4:47 pathways into jobs. On the
4:50 workforce development front.
4:53 So we really try to look ahead
4:54 and identify. Where are the
4:55 jobs going? What are the
4:57 skills needed? What are
4:58 of the individuals that they
4:58 employers looking for in terms
5:00 want to hire and what are
5:02 those skill sets in
5:04 credentials? And so Tony and
5:06 employer front as well as
5:06 his team work both with the
5:10 working with our individual
5:12 job seekers as well as in
5:13 training providers to ensure
5:14 that that alignment exists so
5:17 that that pathways a seamless
5:19 as possible and the
5:19 credentials that are
5:21 individual job seekers are
5:22 attaining are relevant to the
5:23 workforce, demands that we are
5:28 seeing in Denver. Coupled with
5:29 our business assistance team
5:29 led by turn legal case
5:33 Bolton's also here. They
5:35 really work to focus on our
5:36 priority businesses either
5:37 local small certified firms
5:40 are startups are entrepreneurs
5:41 as well as businesses that
5:44 exists in our beds throughout
5:46 the city and ensuring that
5:47 they have everything they need
5:48 to be successful, whether
5:50 that's technical assistance,
5:53 whether that's funds for
5:54 facade, improvements or
5:56 whether that's opportunities
5:56 for financing and capital
5:58 through affordable loan
5:59 products. On top of that, we
6:01 have a business attraction
6:02 team. Focus is on recruiting
6:03 employers both domestically
6:06 and globally. Ensuring that we
6:07 are bringing in new businesses
6:10 to Denver on a regular basis.
6:10 We just had, for example, this
6:13 past week, our global landing
6:15 pad where we've had 11
6:16 businesses from around the
6:18 world that are looking at
6:20 Denver has a potential North
6:22 American headquarters and 9 of
6:24 those 11 businesses are
6:25 committed to opening
6:29 operations in Denver. And then
6:32 lastly is our business
6:32 advocacy work where where this
6:33 is really focused on looking
6:34 at the city and county of
6:35 Denver looking rules and regs
6:37 looking at our policies.
6:39 Looking at new proposals that
6:41 were thinking about and
6:42 understanding. How is that
6:43 going to affect our ability to
6:45 do the rest of this work? How
6:46 does that affect our ability
6:47 to recruit businesses to
6:50 retain those businesses? How
6:51 does this affect the ability
6:51 of a business to do work
6:53 directly with the city and
6:54 understanding how we can
6:55 create solutions that are
7:00 innovative and create a more
7:01 seamless opportunity for
7:02 businesses to thrive in
7:04 Denver. And all of this is
7:05 really rooted in the Denver
7:05 jobs agenda, which is a kind
7:09 of an umbrella, platform that
7:11 we launched earlier this in
7:14 JULY, has a number of
7:15 components. But again, it
7:17 really centers our work on the
7:19 idea of quality jobs and
7:20 centers. Our work on the
7:22 individuals who live in our
7:24 city and our priority
7:25 populations. Speak a little
7:27 bit more about the jobs
7:28 agenda. We did announces her
7:30 earlier this summer, but it
7:32 really kind of categorize our
7:35 work into 4 major aspects. One
7:36 is watch Denver, which is
7:40 focus on this idea. We want to
7:40 help individuals and
7:41 entrepreneurs and startups
7:43 have the ability to launch a
7:43 business in the city and
7:45 county of Denver. We know we
7:47 have great ideas and
7:48 innovators and people who
7:53 coming up with new businesses
7:54 concepts and we want to make
7:55 sure that they have everything
7:59 they need to succeed. We've
7:59 seen 15 unicorns coming out of
8:03 the city and county of Denver.
8:03 These are businesses that's
8:06 starting here in Denver from
8:07 essentially nothing. I've
8:08 grown to a billion dollar
8:10 valuation and many of those
8:11 businesses now have very large
8:13 office spaces in and around
8:14 our downtown. So this is about
8:16 developing that ecosystem for
8:20 our small businesses. Bill,
8:20 Denver's another program that
8:22 we launched in partnership
8:22 with Counter at Enterprise
8:23 Fund. These are affordable
8:25 loan products up to $350,000
8:26 for small businesses in the
8:28 city and county of Denver,
8:29 ensuring that they have the
8:32 ability to expand and grow
8:33 their business, grow jobs and
8:35 have the capital necessary to
8:37 do so. On top of that is our
8:38 open Denver, which is about
8:42 creating incentives that will
8:43 attract office tenants and
8:45 jobs in and around our
8:47 downtown. And then lastly, is
8:47 this idea of work. Denver,
8:50 which is a work that Tony and
8:51 his team lead. They've been
8:54 able to secure a number new
8:55 federal grants that are line.
8:59 This is some of our high need
9:00 workforce areas, specifically
9:02 Renee Aviation, aerospace,
9:06 green jobs and electrification
9:07 jobs come summer grant from
9:09 Kaiser and Dr We launched the
9:09 Early Childhood Workforce
9:11 initiative earlier this summer
9:12 and we have received a grant
9:13 from the Buhl Foundation to
9:15 really grow that work. So
9:16 again, thinking about how are
9:18 we creating pipelines into the
9:18 jobs that we know we're going
9:21 to need going forward and
9:22 providing the credentials and
9:23 support necessary to be
9:27 successful with So in terms of
9:28 the budget philosophy, our
9:30 budget is limited. And so a
9:32 big part of our work is about
9:35 focusing on core functions and
9:35 not trying to do anything.
9:39 Super new or expand. We want
9:39 to make sure that all the
9:41 things that we just talked
9:42 about, our corridor work and
9:43 we remain consistent to that
9:48 because that is there's more
9:48 work to do. Then there our
9:50 staffing capacity to take on
9:51 that work. We are making some
9:54 specific targeted investments.
9:56 These are about making sure
9:58 that our resources are being
9:59 driven towards our priority
10:01 populations and our priority
10:02 neighborhoods. We talked a
10:04 little bit last year about our
10:05 pursuit of a neighborhood
10:07 revitalization Strategy. Area
10:11 Warner, which designation. We
10:12 have gone through a six-month
10:16 process to evaluate our
10:17 neighborhoods, have community
10:18 conversations and to the
10:20 research necessary to submit
10:21 that application, which is
10:22 going through that process
10:25 right now with the housing and
10:26 urban development on the
10:27 receive that nurse a
10:27 federal level and we hope to
10:29 designation later this year
10:30 which really kick start that
10:33 work in 2027 and then ensuring
10:34 that we're continuing to
10:35 prioritize the communities
10:38 that have the highest need.
10:38 And that really is our
10:39 philosophy. When we talk about
10:41 an economy that works for
10:42 everyone, that is about
10:44 understanding who is economy
10:46 working for and who is it not
10:47 working for? Because there are
10:48 many individuals who are not
10:49 benefiting from our economy
10:51 and that's where we try to
10:51 drive the majority of the
10:54 resources that we have to
10:56 ensure we are both dedicating
11:00 works and resources towards a
11:01 specific areas in our city as
11:04 well as specific populations.
11:04 And that is really about that
11:07 philosophy, again of that
11:08 quality jobs are one of the
11:11 best tools we have for helping
11:11 individuals come out of
11:12 poverty. And so we look at
11:13 priority populations. We talk
11:15 about low to moderate income
11:17 individuals. We talk about our
11:19 mwbe and spe certified
11:21 businesses. Youth veterans,
11:24 older workers, newcomers
11:24 individuals experiencing
11:25 homelessness. Justice involved
11:26 in individuals living with a
11:27 disability. And then in terms
11:30 of priority places, these low
11:31 to moderate income areas.
11:34 Harner the nasa neighborhoods
11:35 downtown some of our beds
11:37 across the city, our
11:38 enterprise zones and our
11:43 opportunity zones. Terms of
11:43 the structure, it really is
11:46 directly aligned with how we
11:48 operate and the work for and
11:49 the work that we're doing on a
11:49 day-to-day basis. Again, if
11:51 you go back to that strategic
11:53 framework business
11:54 development, workforce
11:55 development are those 2
11:56 pillars that are foundational
11:57 for us to be able to achieve
12:00 our mission. And that's really
12:02 evident here. Our business
12:03 certification component, which
12:05 is part of our does Bo
12:07 programming as well as our
12:09 network. I really focus on
12:10 business development. And so
12:11 that's why they exist under
12:12 the business development team.
12:14 We made that transition last
12:16 year and then we have our
12:17 executive office, which is our
12:19 kind of back and functions
12:20 doing everything from finance
12:20 and operations and
12:23 administration. Terms of some
12:26 of our performance metrics.
12:27 One of areas that we continue
12:28 to measure is the jobs
12:31 influence by d do This
12:33 includes a couple of different
12:34 measurements, but it's really
12:34 focus on the businesses that
12:37 we work with that either were
12:37 attracting or were supporting
12:40 their job growth or retaining
12:41 those jobs that but for our
12:43 work would have left Denver.
12:45 This is the metric that that
12:47 encompasses so we stay pretty
12:48 consistent in this number. We
12:49 have some specific initiatives
12:51 in the long run that we're
12:53 hoping that especially with
12:54 things like open Denver, where
12:55 we can recruit higher numbers
12:58 in this category. But again,
12:59 despite some of the budget
13:00 reductions that we saw in
13:01 2025, remain consistent in
13:04 achieving these outcomes and a
13:05 more detailed focus of this
13:07 work. You can see there's a
13:08 lot of different measurements
13:11 that we're looking at that are
13:12 not necessarily included in
13:15 that performance metric, which
13:16 includes a number different
13:18 services and programs and
13:20 incentives that we're offering
13:21 as well as a number certified
13:24 businesses that we work with
13:25 that really bring this number
13:26 a little bit more clarity on
13:28 our overall work. On top of
13:31 that. These are businesses
13:33 served in our priority.
13:35 Neighborhoods sale. You will
13:36 notice that there was a little