Denver City Council members received a update on Tuesday on the city’s “WorkReady” program, which was designed to provide above-minimum jobs to immigrants seeking asylum and which officials believe could generate up to $14 million in economic impact for metro Denver.

It’s part of the city’s “Newcomer Program,” which the Johnston administration launched to help address the influx of immigrants arriving in Colorado’s most populous city.

Officials said the objective of WorkReady is to build a pipeline for job seekers in industries with significant labor shortages across the metro Denver area.

“What WorkReady does is allow us to build on what already exists,” said Tony Anderson, the chief workforce development officer with the Department of Economic Development and Opportunity.

Anderson told council members that 350 immigrants have opted into the program, which includes job coaching and a skills assessment and training that asylum seekers can access while they await work authorization.

Work authorization can take up to five months.

The new program is focused on jobs that provide industry-recognized credentials, such as First Aid and CPR, as well as construction and food safety and early childhood education certification, among others.

The training is expected to last six months.

Because participants are also enrolled in the Denver Asylum Seeker Program, they also receive, at taxpayers’ expense, six months of rental, food and utility assistance, a computer, prepaid cell phone and metro bus passes. Officials in El Paso Texas have blamed onward travel and other free services for drawing immigrants to Denver, while neighboring jurisdictions have all taken steps to distance themselves from Denver’s “welcoming” policies.

“People can’t succeed in the work program if they don’t have a place to live,” Anderson said.

So far, the program has attracted more than 70 employers.

“That list continues to grow,” Anderson said.

Adeeb Khan, executive director of Denver Economic Development and Opportunity, told councilmembers that a work prep program, such as the one Denver created, should have taken a year but that Anderson was able to build it in just 10 months.

Immigrants are expected to graduate the program with a job earning at least $20 an hour. And that, Anderson said, will translate into $14 million in new wages.

The city’s approach now represents a longer commitment to helping immigrants who arrived in Denver after illegally crossing the southern border. Previously, officials had offered temporary housing for up to six weeks at various shelters across the city.

Officials hope to enroll 800 immigrants in the city’s extended assistance through its “Newcomer Program,” Sarah Plastino, who is in charge of the city’s response, earlier said.

This first cohort is expected to “graduate” from the program later this year.

It’s all part of a new strategy that pivots away from an emergency response to what officials described as a sustainable, long-term plan — a move that came on the heels of Mayor Mike Johnston trying to rein in spending and finance the $90 million cost to pay for the city’s immigrant response.

Over the past 18 months, Denver had received more than 42,000 immigrants who illegally crossed into the United States and then travelled into Colorado.

That is roughly the size of Brighton, which is located about 20 miles northeast of downtown Denver and is the county seat of neighboring Adams County.

Not all have stayed. Plane, train and bus tickets purchased for immigrants to travel to their final U.S. destination suggest about half may have.

Their arrival has pushed the city’s finances to a breaking point.

To date, Denver’s response has cost taxpayers $72 million — and counting.

At the height of the last influx earlier this year, the city was sheltering about 5,000 immigrants, many of whom crossed the southern border illegally.

Officials have since closed several immigrant shelters and publicly said the city slashed the shelter stay to 72 hours.

The city, however, has temporarily paused “exits” for those already in the system and enforce the 72-hour limit on new arrivals.

“Nobody’s leaving without house keys,” said Jon Ewing, a Denver Human Services spokesperson.

Denver Human Services, which has been managing the humanitarian response, is the umbrella department for the newcomer program.

Tuesday’s update was a far cry from last month’s meeting in which Council President Pro-Tem Amanda Sandoval gave Plastino a dressing down for not appropriately giving credit to her and Council President Jamie Torres for much of the work they’ve done behind the scenes.