EVERGREEN —When Evergreen residents Ken Carlson and Bruce Thoms, both retired businessmen, began volunteering with Evergreen Christian Outreach, their intent was to help people find jobs. But in hosting local job fairs, they were faced with a different population in need.
“There’s been a transition now — where we’re hearing more and more employers just not finding people,” Carlson said.
In an effort spearheaded by , owners and managers of area businesses recently met to discuss and brainstorm over the challenges they believe are keeping them from hiring and retaining employees.
The group identified lack of transportation, low wages, lack of affordable housing and recruiting from beyond Evergreen as main problems, mostly regarding entry-level and part-time positions.
Intertwined through each of those issues, the most-cited issue is a cultural challenge in the form of a strong aversion to affordable housing projects.
“Evergreen is a community of stark contrasts,” Thoms said. “There are some folks living at below the poverty level — that’s why Echo exists — then you have multi-million dollar homes on the other side of Evergreen. There is, particularly on the high end of Evergreen, there’s a strong resistance.”
, but that cannot happen quickly enough for Curtis Lincoln, who owns . He said he has employees who have camped in the area due to lack of housing. He sublet a rental to his employees in the past and is now looking for a property to purchase as a rental.
“I don’t really see another solution in the short term,” he said.
Augustana Care Elk Run senior living community’s executive director Janee Meyers said she is also focused on the local effort for affordable housing. She struggles with part-time help and finding cooks. Her company has been successful with strategies such as wage increases, a referral program and paid training, which worked for Joanna Meraz.
Meraz said she commutes — via carpooling with coworkers — from Aurora to work in Evergreen.
“With most facilities I’ve heard of, they don’t pay for (training),” Meraz, who is 22, said of her job as a medications administrator.
The carpooling works for Meraz and her coworkers, she said. For workers who rely on public transportation, a committee with stakeholders such as Betsy Hays, president of the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, the Regional Transportation District and the Senior Resource Center is working toward a Call-n-Ride service that also does scheduled rides, as well as schedules to and from Denver that better serves people travelling to work in Evergreen, Hays said.
Hays said Evergreen businesses are doing well — chamber membership is up — but they need help for that to continue. There is talk among business owners of partnering in unique ways, such as shared employees, but the conversation is just beginning.
“In trying to figure out what do we do about the fact that we have lots of jobs and not a lot of employees and not a lot of affordable housing for those employees, we’re out there in the community listening and talking to our members,” she said.
Carlson and Thoms said they plan to organize more discussions, possibly forming sub-committees to focus on specific issues.
Meanwhile, Echo continues to maintain the ongoing job postings on its website, mountainareajobs .org.
Echo Jobs Center director Jennie Page said businesses have asked her to keep their listings up indefinitely.
“It’s a revolving door,” she said. “One job gets filled and two more open up.”
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JosieKlemaier
