Denver’s WorkReady Program prepares migrants for careers

DENVER, Colorado — The Denver Asylum Seekers Program, launched in April, is now in its second phase of teaching hands-on skills to migrants who were selected to be part of the program through its WorkReady program, run in partnership with the city and Centro de Los Trabajadores. 

The participants have been able to choose what path they want to go down once completing foundational skills that include English Language Classes, computer skills, resume building and courses related to work exploitation awareness. Once completing the first phase, participants could choose between hospitality, construction and childcare to learn more specialized skills. 

Those who chose hospitality are currently going through a 10-week culinary course taught by Chef Lee at Metropolitan State University. MSU has designed the course to be skills-based rather than theory-based so participants have entry-level skills to work in a commercial kitchen. Lee instructs the class in English with the support of an interpreter from Centro de Los Trabajadores. 

“My passion was to study cooking, but I never could. Lack of resources, lack of opportunity,” said Andres Goenaga, who was accepted into the program after arriving in March 2023. 

In Colombia, Goenaga worked as a security guard. Now in the United States, he is able to pursue an interest he didn’t have before. He hopes one day it will lead to opening his own restaurant. 

“My dream right now, with this opportunity that they gave me here in the United States, is that I want to be a chef, as Professor Lee says, one of the greatest up there,” Goenaga said. 

While Goenaga is choosing a career path he never had the chance to pursue, other participants continue down a similar path they worked in South America. Ruth Duque worked in her sister’s restaurant for a time in Venezuela. She and her husband were also pastors helping those in need. She hopes one day to combine both of her passions here in the United States. 

“The biggest dream is to have a foundation where we can help drug addicts, people on the streets, the homeless, to go into neighborhoods with the neediest people,” Duque said.

She and her husband hope to eventually run a church while maintaining either a restaurant or bakery that could serve those in need. 

“Honestly, it has been a great blessing, and here, I am working hard,” Duque said. 

In order to develop the program, Centro de Los Trabajadores did research surrounding which industries were in need of workers in Colorado. Based on that research, they offered the three industry tracks after assessing participants’ interests and previous work history. 

“It was not at random. it was actually that we talked to them. We see the skills they have,” said Mayra Juárez-Denis, Executive Director at Centro de Los Trabajadores. 

The importance, Juárez-Denis said, is that immigrants have the opportunity to choose what they want to pursue. To her, it offers dignity to the workers they are serving. 

“So, they consciously picked that path, and I think that’s another agency that we offer, which is very rare with our immigrant community. Usually, when we arrive, we say, we just take whatever to survive,” Juárez-Denis said.