Rocky Mountain Divide: Lifting Latinos and Closing Equity Gaps in Colorado

Abstract

Colorado is one of many states that have been underinvesting in educating the children of their least advantaged residents while using job growth to attract well-educated individuals from other states. These policies are economically efficient in that they reap the found value of other states’ educational investment— but they are unfair to state residents. In Colorado, these policies are especially unfair to the Latino population. This report highlights that Latinos aren't going anywhere in the Colorado economy unless they go to college first. This fact has far reaching consequences for the state because of another fact: Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the population in Colorado, and they also tend to be the least educated.