Colorado’s wildly popular black license plates are powering programs for people with disabilities
A new office funded by license plate sales is giving out $5 million this year to help people with disabilities find jobs and live at home
4:00 AM MST on Jan 2, 2025
Colorado’s throwback license plates — especially the cool black ones — are powering a new state office created to help people with disabilities get jobs and live independently.
The Colorado Disability Opportunity Office, called the “C-Doo” among government officials, will give out $5 million this fiscal year to organizations working to support people with disabilities. The office was created by the legislature in June and its inaugural director, Danny Combs, is the father of a son with autism and founder of a trade school in Englewood that teaches young people with autism how to become auto mechanics, welders, carpenters and electricians.
The office gets $25 per retro license plate sold. Those include the long-popular green mountains on a white sky, as well as the reintroduced white COLORADO on a solid blue background, on a red background, and the most popular, on a black background. The three plates, dating to 1914, 1915 and 1945, had been retired and were brought back into circulation in 2021.
About 20% of Coloradans have one or more disabilities, according to the new office. And programs that provide assistance are spread across multiple state agencies, including the state education department, the health and human services department, and the state agency that oversees Medicaid government insurance. The goal of CDOO is to coordinate all those efforts to create more efficiency and less overlap, as well as fill in the gaps where services aren’t covered.
It’s telling that the state selected Combs, who started his new job Nov. 12. In 2016, Combs founded Teaching the Autism Community Trades, or TACT, the first trade school in the nation specifically for young people with autism. He said he wanted more for his son, who has an interest in rebuilding cars and writing, and would not be satisfied with a job bagging groceries or washing dishes. It’s also significant to note that the new office is housed within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which signals a focus on helping people gain self-sufficiency.
“Traditionally, solutions to disability issues are often considered from a human services and poverty approach,” the office said in announcing its opening a few months ago. “Disability policy will be framed through an opportunity lens with the goal of helping those with disabilities get on a path to self-sufficiency, so more people with disabilities can prosper.”
The Department of Labor and Employment also houses the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which helps people with disabilities get job training and operates under the motto that “anyone with a disability who wants to work, can work, regardless of the type or severity of their disability.”
Combs reports directly to the governor’s office, as well as to Joe Barela, executive director of the labor department. His role is to make recommendations after gathering input from disability advocates, boards, committees and state agencies that run programs in schools or support people with disabilities living at home.
“There are leaders that are working so hard but they are unaware of what others are doing,” Combs said.
So far, CDOO has just one other employee besides Combs but the plan is to hire two more as soon as possible.
The office recently announced a new round of $2 million in grants, which is in addition to $1 million distributed earlier this year and another $2 million planned before the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The awards are determined by the Colorado Disability Funding Committee, which was transferred to the new office from the state Department of Personnel and Administration. The committee has 13 governor-appointed members, more than half of whom must have a disability or “have firsthand experience working with someone who does.”
The focus of the latest round of funding is for nonprofits or county human service agencies that are helping people with disabilities navigate the complex process of applying for state and federal benefits. Combs believes many Coloradans with disabilities are unaware that they qualify for services and unsure how to get them. “There are so many agencies doing great work but it can be kind of tricky,” he said.
His long-term goals as director include improving transportation options for people with disabilities, as well as increasing access to services, particularly in rural areas. “Being a statewide agency, we will be able to start supporting not just the Front Range corridor but all of Colorado,” he said.
Combs said New York is the only other state he is aware of with a similar disability office and that he is meeting with that state’s disability director next week.
Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera said in a news release that the grants reflect Colorado’s “unwavering commitment to empowering Coloradans with disabilities to achieve independence and thrive.”