Edgewater Collective promotes cooperatives to help Latino business owners [Video]

EDGEWATER, Colo. — The Edgewater Collective is helping promote programs and partnerships to improve education, economic opportunity and civic engagement with Latino communities across Jefferson County.

The nonprofit, based in Edgewater, was founded in 2012.

“We saw needs in our local schools, and wanted to do everything we could to fix them. But over the last 11 years, really learning about our community, building relationships with immigrants in the Edgewater area. We really began to see our community in terms of what kind of the typical needs that people like me see for our community,” Edgewater Collective Executive Director Joel Newton said. “During the pandemic, our team was connecting with folks that were renting in Edgewater and helping them catch up on their rent. And through those conversations, we began to learn workers were being taken advantage of, so they weren’t being paid, they would have to drive long distances. And through that, we began to realize that we …