Summit County nonprofit staff said they are continuing to see a steady increase in the number of migrants coming to them for help.

Staff said the county is nowhere near the crisis levels seen elsewhere in the state, such as Denver, where the city’s mayor recently appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation to call for more federal support, or Carbondale, where some migrant families were found sleeping under a bridge.

Still, Summit County’s migrant population is growing and community advocates say so should the support.

“I think even though it’s not as visible — we’re not getting buses of people dropped off — we’re certainly seeing people continuously come to Summit County from a variety of places,” said Family & Intercultural Resource Center executive director Brianne Snow.

“I think there’s just a steady stream of people who continue to come into our county looking for jobs,” Snow added.

Despite a high cost of living, migrants fleeing poor economic conditions, natural disasters and political upheaval in their home countries are drawn to Summit for its abundance of work, from service jobs to hospitality and construction. Snow said many migrants have put down roots, and their family members know they will find community here.

While the most recent U.S. Census data from 2020 reported 15% of the county’s population to be Hispanic, other statistics tell a different story, such as in the Summit School District, where the student body still hovers around 40% Spanish-speaking.

At the resource center, roughly half of the clients it serves are Spanish speakers, while for certain programs, the ratio of Spanish to English is even greater. For example, of all the clients served by the resource center’s food market in 2023, more than 85.21% spoke Spanish, over 12% spoke English and the rest spoke a different language, according to Snow.

Along with Spanish speakers, Snow said the resource center has also seen a slight rise in Ukrainian immigrants and French-speaking immigrants from northern Africa.

Snow said as the county’s population becomes more diverse, the nonprofit has put a greater focus on programming that is reflective of community needs.

That includes launching an advisory group for its latest rental assistance program, modeled after the one already in place for its food bank. These groups consist of residents with lived experiences of housing and food insecurity and help make recommendations for how to make the resource center’s services more equitable.

The resource center does not ask clients about their immigrant status but does record if they’ve been in the county for a year or less. In 2023, 17% of the clients who were asked this question responded with yes, up from 14% in 2022.

But as newcomers arrive, some are also leaving, driven out by high costs. For this reason, knowing the county’s true migrant population is a challenge, with Snow adding, “It’s really hard to grasp the number with so many people being transient.”

Mountain Dreamers, a Frisco-based nonprofit that works with county immigrants, said it’s seen a greater spike in newly arrived immigrants, according to data collected through the nonprofit’s intake forms.

According to Executive Director Peter Bakken, 480 clients reported living in the county for less than a year in 2023, up from 400 in 2022. That represents a 20% increase.

The nonprofit earlier this year received a $25,000 grant from a private organization to launch its newcomer program, which pairs Mountain Dreamers staff with families who’ve lived in the county for three months or less. The idea is to provide families with a chaperone who can show them where to access county resources — such as bus stops, food banks and medical offices — as well as help them apply for school enrollment, housing and other necessities.

Miriam Garcia is one of the Mountain Dreamers staffers currently leading the program, which as of mid-December was serving 11 families. For her, it’s about providing migrants not only with one-off support but the tools to become more self-sufficient.

“We are trying to help them in any way possible,” Garcia said.

While homelessness is often less visible in Summit County, where housing-insecure residents instead live in hotels or alongside strangers crammed into a small space, it is a problem for some migrants.

Garcia said she’s aware of one situation where three people have been sleeping in a tent and another where nine people were living in two separate cars. While county officials work to bring hundreds of new, income-based housing units online over the next year, Garcia said she also wants to see more places for temporary shelter.

The county government has seen previous success in providing immigrants quick access to housing, such as when it converted a former Days Inn hotel in Silverthorne to 51 income-based rental units. Since opening in May, the complex has seen roughly two-thirds of its available units go to Spanish-speaking applicants, according to county officials.

Interim County Manager Dave Rossi stated in an email that the county is coordinating with Mountain Dreamers to try and find a housing solution for a family “with a particularly urgent need.”

Rossi added that the county “will continue to be on the lookout for any developments on the migrant situation as we intend to be prepared as best we can” including tapping state resources.

Western Slope government officials have also been coordinating with state offices such as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Department of Local Affairs on what to do if they begin to see a migrant influx.

According to a Dec. 15 email sent to local and state officials that Rossi shared with the Summit Daily, that includes developing plans for shelter, transportation, medical screenings and community donations.

“This is an evolving incident. Our task is to please be patient and understanding as we provide you with the information and resources that we can,” wrote Danielle Aguilar, the state’s Emergency Response and Preparedness field manager for the West Service Area.

As migrants continue to arrive in Summit and other mountain communities, nonprofit staff said their ask is for the community to stay engaged.

“Help in any way possible,” said Garcia with Mountain Dreamers. “Because today, they are the people in need. But who knows, maybe in the future, we’ll be the person in need.”

Published on SummitDaily.com.