A handful of nonprofit organizations in Colorado Springs have had a few meetings under the coordination of Pikes Peak United Way to hash out what they would do if a large number of newly arrived immigrants from the southwest border came to town.

They won’t meet again, though, unless someone detects indicators that such a scenario is unfolding, said Cindy Aubrey, president and CEO of Pikes Peak United Way, which is acting as a convener in bringing the nonprofits together.

“We have this discussion all the time about where would one choose to go if you’re a migrant. You’re going to go to a city or county that might have declared themselves a welcoming city, where people feel like they could be served and get what they need,” she said.

“Our city and county have declared El Paso County and Colorado Springs as non-sanctuary, and we are here, like the other nonprofits, to lift and help people without compromising our city and county’s non-sanctuary status.”

Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade requested that such a group be formed to discuss the issue with nonprofits following the Pikes Peak Regional Office of Emergency Management’s immigrant framework that was presented to City Council last month.

While there’s no concrete plan of what the nonprofits will do if the city sees an influx of immigrants — which has not happened — there are steps that would be taken, Aubrey said.

“What we have planned is if any of us see an uptick or feel like we are experiencing an increase in serving people that we would reconvene and have a discussion about it and then alert the mayor and the Office of Emergency Management and set a plan of how to handle it,” she said.

With continued inflation and high costs of housing, groceries and gas, along with loss of pandemic-related federal funding for assistance, Colorado Springs nonprofits are near or at capacity with their current clients, many of whom are locals, Aubrey said.

“It would be difficult to have the numbers increase of people they were serving,” she said.

Aubrey declined to name the nonprofits in the group, saying her organization is just the convener, not a service provider.

The Salvation Army of El Paso County, which among its programs operates a homeless shelter for families, a 16-bed shelter for homeless veterans, apartments for veterans and food for the needy, has attended the meetings, said Capt. Doug Hanson, who heads the local organization.

“It’s not an idea of rolling out the red carpet but looking at what is our maximum capacity and (what) we could do without changing our city’s sanctuary status,” he said. “We are the agencies that would be the frontline responders.”

The Salvation Army’s shelter has accommodated some Venezuelan families in recent months, but “we have not seen a mass influx of immigrants,” Hanson said.

United Way’s 211 hotline for human services has fielded more calls from people in need of rent, utilities and food assistance, according to Aubrey.

Colorado Springs does not have the ability to serve the amount of immigrants that have come through Denver’s processing center, she said.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced this week a plan to spend about $90 million this year on immigration services, with $25 million already spent in the first quarter of this year.

The city is facing a $45 million budget gap due to services for immigrants, having spent $15 million in December alone, Johnston said. At that time, he projected an $180 million gap, which has since been reduced as the city has closed four hotels for immigrants, leaving one open, and housing many immigrants without greatly increasing the homeless population, Johnston said in announcing a new work program for immigrants.

“We don’t have that kind of city government funding here or the large nonprofits that Denver has,” Aubrey said.

She doesn’t anticipate a large influx of immigrants in El Paso County or Colorado Springs.

“We don’t have any indications, but that could change tomorrow,” Aubrey said. “We’re keeping our eye on it.”

Some Colorado Springs school districts have seen more immigrant students in recent months.

Since the official October student headcount for this academic year, Colorado Springs School District 11 has logged an increase of 140 new immigrant students from outside the United States and who were not proficient in English, said spokeswoman Jessica Wise.

That compares to 77 new immigrant students last school year and 75 in 2021-22.

Wise said the increase is “not as large as it sounds,” and the situation is “not perceived as a crisis but rather as indicative of a shifting student demographic, mirroring broader demographic trends.”

Last Friday, state lawmakers approved legislation that provides up to $24 million in one-time funding to help offset the cost for school districts that have had an increase in the number of newly arrived English learners since the October enrollment count.

“Our district will be submitting an application for this funding as well, as it is our responsibility to do all we can to best serve our students,” Wise said via email.