Use this button to switch between dark and light mode.

Income Inequality, Immigration Status and COVID-19 Threaten Historic Colorado Town

July 27, 2020 (1 min read)

Nathaniel Minor, Colorado Public Radio, July 23, 2020

"Leadville, along with the rest of Colorado’s tourist-reliant mountain communities, was hit hard by the closure of ski resorts and restrictions on travel within the state, which kept recreationists away. Because of long-standing economic inequities rooted in immigration status, that pain has been especially acute in the nearby mobile home parks, home to many of the room cleaners, restaurant cooks, and construction workers who advocates say make the tourism industry in neighboring Summit and Eagle counties possible.

Many of the mobile home parks’ undocumented immigrants are not eligible for key state and federal relief programs like food stamps and unemployment. So local governments and nonprofits scraped together money and food donations to keep those families afloat. But advocates say residents need more than bags of food and help with bills to withstand future economic shocks, but major policy changes like an overhaul of federal immigration law and local reforms."