ONA’s Story
In 2019, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition convened state and national partners to envision a Colorado Office of New Americans.
In November 2019, Governor Polis established the New American Integration Initiative in the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) headed by Kit Taintor, Senior Advisor to the Governor for New American Integration. The New American Integration Initiative (NAII) held over 100 stakeholder meetings and interviews. In 2020, the NAII determined priority areas of economic development, access, and education/outreach.
In June 2021, the legislature passed and Governor Polis signed HB 21-1150 (Rep. I. Jodeh/Sen. J. Gonzales), that established the Office of New Americans in CDLE’s Executive Director’s Office. In December 2021, the New American Community Advisory Committee (NACAC) was established.
HB 21-1150 mandated that a work group be established to address where the Colorado Refugee Services Program (CRSP) should be housed. The work group produced the Final Recommendations Regarding the Establishment of the Office of New Americans which was published in 2022.
In 2022, CDLE hired the first ONA team member and the first ONA Director, Dee Daniels Scriven. ONA worked to stand up legislatively mandated programs and initiatives including the Global Talent Task Force, the Virtual, Career-Aligned English as a Second Language program, and the Benefit Recovery Fund.
In early 2023, ONA continued its work and launched programs and initiatives around the Integration of International Medical Graduates and the migrant influx.
In March 2023, ONA launched its Inaugural Statewide Integration Plan. The purpose of the plan is to implement a statewide strategy to facilitate economic stability and promote successful economic, social, linguistic, and cultural integration by investing in the success of immigrants in Colorado. The plan addresses high priority needs of Colorado’s New American community, and includes numerous strategies and activities that ONA with its current capacity cannot accomplish on its own. However, with the partnership and engagement of the state and Colorado’s civil society, it can be done. ONA will treat the state integration plan as a working document and continue to hone it in furtherance of the overarching goal of helping New Americans thrive in Colorado.
In June 2023, the legislature passed and Governor Polis signed HB 23-1283 (Rep. I. Jodeh / Sen. J. Gonzales), that authorized the transition from CRSP to ONA. As outlined in the law, transitioning CRSP to ONA will provide a more comprehensive and integrated approach to strengthening Colorado's ability to promote economic stability and the successful economic, social, linguistic, and cultural integration of all New Americans in the state and will further streamline immigrant-and refugee-related priorities, services, data, and outcomes in Colorado.
In October 2024, the Colorado Refugee Services Program (CRSP) officially transitioned to ONA, bringing immigrant and refugee programs under one state office. CRSP has a long history of successful refugee resettlement in the state. Colorado began resettling refugees in 1980, and to date the state and its partners have welcomed over 75,000 refugees to Colorado. CRSP was first housed in the Colorado Department of Human Services in 1994.
ONA Leadership
Dee Daniels Scriven
Director, Office of New Americans
Dee is the Director of the Office of New Americans. Prior to her work at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, she spent the previous twelve years working in the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, in various positions, but ultimately as Refugee Policy Counsel in the Division of Policy and Procedures. Dee’s background also includes work as a child abuse and neglect prosecutor, public defender, and as a volunteer attorney with a human rights organization in Peru. She studied at Colorado College and American University’s Washington College of Law.
Nicklaus Lesley
State Refugee Coordinator
Nick Lesley is the Colorado State Refugee Coordinator, responsible for statewide coordination of the refugee resettlement program. He has led the Colorado Refugee Services Program (CRSP) since 2023. Prior to his appointment as State Refugee Coordinator, Nick served CRSP as the Grant and Program Manager, and the Refugee Employment and Training Coordinator. He attended Western Michigan University, where he holds a BA in Education, and the University of Colorado at Denver, where he received his Master’s degree in Anthropology with a focus on Sustainable Development and Political Economy. He has been supporting refugee work in Colorado since 2013.
Benzir Shrestha
Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) Program Coordinator
Benzir is the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor (URM) Program Coordinator for the Division of Child Welfare (DCW). Prior to DCW, she worked as the Lead Social Caseworker for the URM team at Denver County. Benzir is an immigrant herself from Nepal. She has 7 years of working with Unaccompanied Minors. She studied Social Work at Metropolitan State University.