Colorado’s New Employment Platform for Those Affected by COVID-19 Crisis

by Ellen Glover
April 20, 2020
Colorado governor has teamed up with CA startups to launch an employment resources for those affected by COVID-19 pandemic
Photo: Shutterstock

Governor Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment have teamed up with the Kapor Center and Bitwise Industries — two California-based startups — to launch OnwardCO, an online resource for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

OnwardCO is one arm of the broader OnwardUS. Powered by Mastercard, Salesforce and Shift3 Technologies, the platform aims to provide a connection to resources like food, shelter, childcare and money, as well as job training and employment opportunities. Starting Monday, all of these services are now available to Coloradans.

The service was originally launched in California as OnwardCA and, soon, will be made available in another 20 states, all with their own specific sites, according to Bitwise Industries’ CEO and co-founder Jake Soberal.

“The unemployment that we’re experiencing in this moment is not only profound, but it is unique. We have never been in quite this spot before,” Soberal told Built In. “We think Onward is a sort of emergency horizontal that, in a timely, relevant and fast way, is connecting the critical vertical silos that exist as a resource to the individuals who have been displaced. So we’re connecting life essential services and training and jobs in a way that meets the story of the individual suffering from the trauma of job loss right now. It’s certainly sad that we need this, but we feel as though this is uniquely tailored to help people get back to work.”

The value of Onward depends on how it is used. While the site is dedicated to providing vital resources that are of immediate importance to the recently unemployed, like food and shelter, its job training services can also be a means of growth and opportunity during this difficult time.

“The response to unemployment will be different for all manner of different workers. Some will say, ‘this is going to be the moment at which I get another set of skills that I’ve been thinking about to go back into the economy in a different place.’ We want to facilitate that,” Soberal said. “Some will say ‘I really need a paycheck next month and need to go back to work most quickly,’ and there will be variations in between. Meeting those folks and accomplishing that is really important to us.”

Soberal says another priority of Onward is to specifically meet the needs of low-income neighborhoods and people of color. Soberal says these communities have been disproportionately affected by job loss amid the fallout from the virus.

Providing job training for folks living in what Soberal calls “underdog cities” has been important to Bitwise Industries for years. The company was created to provide people living in systemic poverty with the resources and training they need to get a job in the tech industry. The goal is to both create a path to success for the individual and transform blighted cities into thriving tech hubs.

As the United States sees unprecedented levels of unemployment in this historic moment, the Onward effort is aiming to serve as a source of growth and support in Colorado and beyond.

“As we work to ensure the health and safety of Coloradans during these unprecedented times, it’s critical that we also help the economy recover,” Polis said in a statement. “OnwardCO is a key tool in that effort.”

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