The Colorado Dream KUNC

Aurora has a large foreign born population and some of them turn to local ethnic media outlets for news and to stay informed about their home countries. There are over three dozen ethnic media organizations that serve the city and the greater metro Denver area. They are print, digital and broadcast outlets that publish in many different languages including English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Polish.
Vera Azuka Idam started Afrik Digest in 2018, a free magazine and online publication, to bring African people together.
“To be their voices, to raise their voices,” she said. “We know what they want. We understand the way to put it that they would understand.”
There are hundreds of ethnic media outlets across the country. They face challenges like evolving digital and social media, loss of in-community businesses, an aging audience and lack of bilingual journalists. Fake news is a big issue too. It can stem from a variety of sources like targeted campaigns in communities of color that hope to influence elections to social media platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook Groups.One of the biggest challenges in funding.
“For those of us who are doing these things alone, maybe that's because we're struggling with, you know, with support and very minimum financial support,” said KETO 93.9 FM founder Endale Getahun.
KETO is a multicultural immigrant community radio station that primarily serves African immigrants and refugees. The signal originates in Aurora and has a broadcast radius of 10 miles and also streams online. There are shows and music in English, French and Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Tigrinya and Oromo.
Aurora partners with KETO, Afrik Digest and other ethnic media outlets to ensure the different immigrant groups have equal access to information and resources coming from the city.
“Networking with others is very helpful because you get to share experience,” said KETO-FM 93.9 founder Endale Getahun who attended the event.
“I feel like for many of these communities, they really trust, you know, these ethnic media organizations,” said Ricardo Gambetta, Aurora’s manager of International and Immigrant Affairs. “They know that they want the best for these communities.”


Afrik Digest on Facebook


Afrik Digest on Twitter


Afrik Digest on Instagram


Afrik Digest on YouTube

Center for Community Media at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York on social media


Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY on Facebook


Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY on Twitter


 Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY on YouTube

KETO 93.9 FM on social media


KETO 93.9 FM on Facebook


KETO 93.9 FM on Twitter


KETO 93.9 FM on YouTube

City of Aurora on social media


City of Aurora on Facebook


City of Aurora on Twitter


City of Aurora on Instagram

The Colorado Dream: Newcomers Welcome is a production from KUNC. This episode was written and reported by Stephanie Daniel. Editing by Sean Corcoran. This season's theme song was composed by Jason Paton. Jennifer Coombes is the digital editor.

Foreign-born residents have higher rates of entrepreneurship than those born here in the U.S. Aurora supports these business owners as part of its immigrant integration plan. The goal is to increase entrepreneurship by providing information, training and lowering the barriers to entry. There are hundreds of immigrant and refugee owned businesses throughout the city including Msosi Kenyan Cuisine food truck, owned by Kenyan immigrant Josphat Ombacho.

 In 2016, Ombacho and his wife started a traditional catering business. They sold food at events like Aurora’s Global Fest and Taste of Colorado. Eventually, they decided to buy a food truck but they needed some money.

“We went to various banks to see if we can get a loan to buy a food truck because we didn't have enough money,” Ombacho said. “We couldn't get (it) because our credit was low.” 

After getting turned down at traditional banks they heard about CEDS Finance in Aurora and received a loan from the non-profit, federally-funded, small business lender. 

“Our mission is all about how do we help refugees create the American dream? And we define that as financial self-sufficiency,” said Alex Wise, CEDS Finance executive director.

The nonprofit loans up to 100,000-dollars to clients and doesn’t require a minimum credit score. CEDs is also the only lender in the state that offers an Islamic-compliant loan, an alternative type of financing that adds an administrative fee rather than charging interest.

Ethiopian refugee and Aurora resident Ermias Gurmu owns a small trucking business called Line Trucking. He hauls food across the country for big chain stores like Wal-Mart and King Soopers. He’s on his second CEDS loan and is one of more than 300 entrepreneurs the lender has supported.

“I'm planning to get more trucks and to have some more employees to expand my company,” Gurmu said.
Credits: The Colorado Dream: Newcomers Welcome is a production from KUNC. This episode was written and reported by Stephanie Daniel. Editing by Sean Corcoran. This season's theme song was composed by Jason Paton. Jennifer Coombes is the digital editor.

KUNC hosted a live community event and panel discussion to talk about the themes explored in The Colorado Dream: Newcomers Welcome podcast. The panel included podcast host Stephanie Daniel and people featured in the series.

The Colorado Dream: Newcomers Welcome episode five explores what stands in the way of Aurora being a welcoming home for all immigrants. Also, Salwa Mourtada Bamba achieves one more big milestone.

Aurora is home to immigrants and refugees from around the world. To help them succeed, the city created an ambitious integration plan that focuses heavily on supporting foreign-born entrepreneurs. And for good reason; immigrants and refugees have higher rates of starting new businesses than American-born residents. Throughout the city there are immigrant-owned businesses like food markets, restaurants, beauty salons and transportation companies.