Colorado sees Latino growth

Working immigrants change face of state; town outside Vail has highest percentage

Hector Gutierrez and Burt Hubbard , News Staff Writers

Published June 5, 2002 at midnight

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AVON -- Across the road from where Lucrecia Covarrubias lives, the pine-covered hillside forms a picturesque backdrop etched by condominiums.

The Eagle River splashes behind the apartment buildings where Covarrubias lives with her husband and three young children. About a half-mile away on U.S. 24, luxury cars enter the Beaver Creek Resort.

Like hundreds of other mostly Latin American immigrants in the Avon area, Covarrubias and her family probably won't ever be able to afford a spot at Beaver Creek.

But together they make up big segment of Eagle County's population.

Avon, about six miles west of Vail, reported that 32 percent of its residents are non-U.S. citizens, according to Census 2000, the highest such figure in Colorado.

Countywide, one in six Eagle residents is a non-citizen.

"They're coming because of the jobs in the construction and hospitality-hotel industries," said Tom Viemann, director of Catholic Charities-Western Slope. "The economic backbone of these resorts is the Hispanic immigrants."

And the signs of the immigration wave go far beyond Avon.

They live in Fort Morgan on the Eastern Plains, where one in six residents is not a citizen.

A sign at a Glendale construction site on Cherry Creek Drive South tells workers in English and Spanish to wear hard hats.

A banner in the Safeway store at South Quebec Street and Leetsdale Drive in southeast Denver advertises Western Union's services in Spanish.

At Aurora's English Language Acquisition program on East First Avenue, director Eed Celfkin, herself from Thailand, has seen immigrants of 51 different nationalities pass through her classrooms in the past several years.

Sam Mamet, director of the Colorado Municipal League, said some police and sheriff departments on the Western Slope are offering bonuses for officers who learn Spanish or other languages.

Altogether, more than 200,000 immigrants came to Colorado during the 1990s, swelling the ranks of the foreign-born to about 370,000. About 250,000 of those are not U.S. citizens.

As a result, about 15 percent of Coloradans 5 years of age and older speak a language other than English at home. About 7 percent told the Census Bureau they don't speak English well.

Communities on the Western Slope are trying to accommodate the wave, but in some cases the progress has been slow, said Rufina Hernandez, executive director of the Latin American Research and Services Agency.

"The mountain communities are trying to address it. They are not ignoring it, which we really commend," Hernandez said. "But by the same token, they are a little bit behind . . ."

Eagle County commissioners recently hired an advocate to assist Latinos with cultural programs and other resources.

Avon town manager Bill Efting said his burg's location is a big draw for many immigrants.

Covarrubias, who is not a U.S. citizen, lives in River View Apartments just outside Avon with hundreds of other immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

The complex is part of a housing program operated by Eagle County for low-income families.

Like many others, Covarrubias' husband, Sergio, was lured to Eagle County because of the abundance of jobs.

"We eat better here and can afford refreshments," Covarrubias, 27, said, as she cared for her three children, ages 2 to 6. "It's really tranquil here."

Covarrubias speaks little English. But her husband, Sergio, speaks it fluently, she said. Her children are learning the language as they attend school.

Her husband works two jobs, as do many others. He is a cashier at Avon Wal-Mart and a produce worker at the Village Market in Edwards.

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