Lorena Garcia is the Executive Director for Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, an organization that was instrumental in passing two laws that help undocumented immigrants get licenses to work.
“Senate Bill 77 is effective in ensuring and supporting childcare providers who cannot prove lawful presence, who want to get licensed, that they can,” explained Garcia.
The second bill, SB21-199, includes the ability to apply for different things like small business loans and the opportunity to take advantage of course development.
When talking about the two bills Garcia said, “they do the same thing except that 199 goes so much further in including public benefits that isn’t just licensing.”
“Any sort of benefit that is funded by state and local governments, undocumented immigrants will be able to have access to them if they qualify starting in July 2022,” added Garcia.
This new law also eliminates a requirement that Garcia says will allow entities who receive state or local dollars to contract with undocumented immigrants, something they weren’t allowed to do before.
In Gonzalez' case, it opens her opportunities to work in center-based child care as a contract teacher.
She’s planning to get her license and will hopefully work at a school.
“This is also a win for my husband and children who are watching what mommy is doing,” Gonzalez said in Spanish.
She says this process is an example for her family and children to not to give up on their dreams.
Sonia Gutierrez is a multimedia journalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at soniagutirrez@rmpbs.org
Julio Sandoval is a multimedia journalist with Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.