DENVER — Monday night, Denver City Council will discuss a proposal that would turn impounded vehicles into a training resource for students at trade schools.
Currently to dispose of unclaimed impounded vehicles, the city can auction them off through sealed bid, put them through scrap metal conversion or give them to law enforcement to use.
The proposal before Denver City Council suggests an alternative option — to donate the vehicles to nonprofit educational institutions in the City and County of Denver.
“We try to keep our shop as simulated to the industry as much as possible. And without those shop cars, without donated cars, we won't be able to do that,”
CEC Early College is outlined as one of three schools to benefit from this program.
“We're building students into a career, and without our shop cars, it's gonna really impact us learning post secondary,” Adam Florez, an automotive instructor at CEC Early College, said. “This bill would help us receive shop cars consistently and a nice flow of them compared to what we have now."
Rin Aborque, a junior at CEC Early College, said, "The more I practice it boosts my confidence and working on them, like practice is like, it makes me relieved, kind of, because I know that I can mess up."
Other students, like Aaron Ramirez and Gabriel Rodriguez, also juniors at CEC Early College, shared how this program sets them up for success.
"This course has helped me a lot. It's given me AC certifications will help me out my career," Ramirez said. "I get to learn on the cars hands on and see what real situations would look like with the engine and suspension and stuff."
Rodriguez added, it "gives us the knowledge how the engine works, not just any engine that's like broken down, but it also gives us experience to see how parts run and what different noises are for the engine that we have to fix."
Denver City Councilwoman Jamie Torres is one of the sponsors of the proposal, and says it will fill a need seen within trade schools.
A report from the slightly left-of-center Progressive Policy Institute shows 20% of federal investment in post-secondary education goes to workforce development programs — the umbrella trade schools fall under.
The other 80% goes to traditional degree programs despite the fact 38% of U.S. adults have a bachelor’s degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Progressive Policy Institute’s report said the disparity in funding has made it difficult for employers to find qualified talent.
The proposal before Denver City Council hopes to offer a solution.
“Is there any way that vehicles could be acquired from the city, whether it was old fleet vehicles or something that we were getting rid of and not utilizing?” was a question that came up in discussion between Torres and a leader of a trade school in her district.
“They're either nonprofits or they're DPS based organizations. So they actually don't have money to go out and buy cars for their program,” Torres said. “They depend heavily on people donating their cars, which has become harder and harder to actually get, because people who get rid of a car, they usually want to sell it, they're actually trying to recoup some money from it, and you would have to donate it to these schools in order for them to be able to acquire new vehicles. So they had been using vehicles over and over again.”
Torres said the city disposes of over 3,000 vehicles a year at an auction, so they can accommodate a few dozen going to instructional organizations.
“It's kind of a win win, but technically, it is accurate to say that there is a loss in revenue just won't impact 100%,” Torres said. “It is a nominal impact to the city and a huge boom for these organizations.”
The proposal accounts for up to 100 cars to be donated. Those vehicles have to be valued at or under $1,500, roadworthy and must meet the city’s ordinance conditions for disposal.
Both Torres and Florez believe the proposal will move smoothly throughout the council and Torres said if it does pass, it would take effect by the end of the year.
The second reading for the proposal is September 15.
What schools will receive the vehicles?
As of now, there are three schools listed to receive vehicles from this proposal. However, the recipients are not limited to this list and it is expected to expand in the future.
The list includes Emily Griffith Technical College, CEC Early College, and Montbello Career and Technical Education.
“If there is a nonprofit or a new nonprofit that comes in the future where they are providing instruction for the workforce, for career certification, that would certainly qualify if it was a nonprofit or an education based organization,” Torres explained.
Qualifications for recipients of these vehicles include IRS-registered nonprofit institutions, education credentials or workforce development mission, and must be located in City and County of Denver.
