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BALLOT ISSUES

Homelessness Ecosystem Analysis Phase 2

Homelessness is a visible outcome of a system that does not consistently work for everyone. This report is the result of efforts to understand the systemic factors that impact homelessness in the Metropolitan Denver area through a human-centered systems design lens.

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Colorado Jobs and Labor Force Update: September 2021

Although September job growth was lower than what is needed to achieve a full recovery by January 2023, adjusted for population growth, Colorado reached an important recovery milestone last month. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the labor force participation rate for Colorado mothers exceeded its pre-pandemic level.

Potential Reach of Proposition 119 “The Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress Program (LEAP)”

Proposition 119 on the 2021 Colorado ballot proposes to establish the Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress Program (LEAP).

Are Denver Taxes Too High? The Fiscal Impacts of Ordinance 304 “Enough Taxes Already”

Ordinance 304 or the “Enough Taxes Already” ballot initiative proposes to cut the City of Denver’s sales tax from 4.81% to 4.5% and impose a cap at the latter rate.

RECENT RESEARCH

Dollars and Data 2021

Sep 29, 2021 | 2021 Research, Education, Featured, Featured Research, Jobs & Our Economy, Recent Research, Research

If Colorado is to have a substantive public discourse about how to improve educational outcomes, there needs to be a common understanding of how K-12 public education is funded in the state. This study analyzes statewide and regional trends in K-12 revenues and spending over the past decade to help ground conversations in facts.

Colorado Jobs and Labor Force Update: August 2021

Sep 17, 2021 | 2021 Research, Featured, Featured Research, Jobs & Our Economy, Recent Research, Research

In April 2020, Colorado lost over 360,000 jobs, experienced the worst month of economic performance in its history, and launched into a deep and abiding recession. A little over a year later, the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that, though Colorado’s workforce has already endured the worst of the recession and is ahead of pace to recover fully by 2023, much progress remains to be made.

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CSI’S MISSION

CSI’s mission is to examine the fiscal impacts of policies, initiatives, and proposed laws so that Coloradans are educated and informed on issues impacting their lives. Common Sense Institute was founded in 2010 originally as Common Sense Policy Roundtable. CSI’s founders were a concerned group of business and community leaders who observed that divisive partisanship was overwhelming policymaking and believed that sound economic analysis could help Coloradans make fact-based and common sense decisions.