Roughly 2,000 Denver families may soon receive one-time cash payments under a $3 million program being considered by the City Council primarily to help immigrant families impacted by the pandemic.

A council committee gave initial approval to the program last week, setting it up for a full vote before the body later this month.

The program would provide payments of between $1,000 and $1,500 to low-income families impacted by COVID-19 with at least one juvenile child at home and who meet other qualifications, like housing insecurity or living in certain areas of the city. The $3 million program will be paid for through federal COVID-19 recovery dollars and would be open through June 30, 2024.

While areas primarily in western and northern Denver are specifically named in the proposal, anyone in the city who can’t receive certain government assistance — as many immigrant families can’t — and otherwise qualifies would also be eligible, city officials told the council committee last week.

The program would be similar to an effort that distributed millions of dollars to immigrant workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Between 1,800 and 2,200 Denver families are expected to be eligible for this latest program, Alexandra Bare, a services and contracts coordinator with the city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, told the committee last week. That includes 4,200 children, 1,200 of which are under the age of 5.

Officials also will survey those who receive the one-time payments to see how they spent the money, which, if approved, would be distributed by the nonprofit contractor Impact Charitable.

Since the pandemic began three years ago, the nonprofit has already distributed $37 million in payments to low-income, immigrant workers in Colorado who were unable to obtain government assistance like unemployment benefits, according to council documents. The proposal being considered by the council is a cousin to that effort, albeit geared more specifically toward children and families, and is an acknowledgment, city officials said, that not everyone has recovered from the pandemic.

“Though some parts of our city have been able to bounce back really well, others are having a harder time,” said Council President Jamie Torres.

Atim Otii, the director of the immigrant and refugee affairs office, told council members last week that the one-time payments complied with federal rules that otherwise prohibit foreign nationals from receiving government cash assistance, at the risk of jeopardizing their immigration status.

“We know that this program will provide temporary relief to families facing financial difficulties,” Bare said. “It will help stabilize their financial situation, prevent further hardships and hopefully improve their well-being overall following this cash assistance. However, equally, we also know that this one-time cash assistance also provides short-term relief from financial strain, but long-term impacts can vary significantly based on the underlying financial situation of each family.”

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