A tall nylon “open” sign stands outside a new business along E. Montview Blvd. in northwest Aurora. It marks the end of a long journey to open the doors to El Alba Cooperative, a kitchen and retail space.

“Our kitchen is for entrepreneurs and local small business owners to have access,” said Gabriela Jacobo, executive director of El Alba Cooperative.

If you stop by the business, Jacobo will tell you about the journey to get there, beginning in 2015 as part of an initiative called Community Campus Partnerships, now known as the Office of Access and Engagement at the nearby University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Networking breakfasts and dinners brought local businesses together, which later became listening sessions with local entrepreneurs.

Jacobo also works for the CU office and was part of that community team. She traveled up and down East Colfax, hearing from people who didn’t have commercial kitchens for their food businesses and had to cook at home. That’s where the idea for a cooperative system was born, bringing entrepreneurs together to be guided through training and workshops.

The co-op was formed in 2018 with a plan presented to the Aurora City Council. At the time the city had a restaurant program but only provided incentives for people who wanted to open a traditional business. El Alba could only get support from the city if El Alba could raise money.

A food truck was purchased to help some of the food businesses get started and raise money for the permanent kitchen, but the money coming in wasn’t enough, and the pandemic derailed the kitchen plans.

In the following years, Jacobo worked on fundraising and collaborations with The Center for Community Wealth, the City of Aurora, the non-profit Mosaic Center, and the Aurora Small Business Development Center, along with support from the Gates Foundation and many others in the community.

She never gave up, and in 2024 she was told about the space on Montview. The City of Aurora and the landlord helped pay for the construction, and now Jacobo and incubator kitchen manager Nicolás Cusi, who also works for CU, need the business to succeed and be able to pay the rent.

Jacobo said, “We sold the dream to our members for the longest time, but some of them, they had other needs, they moved on.”

There has been new interest in the kitchen, and now three catering businesses are set to launch.

Jacobo and Cusi are working on enlisting more cooperative members. “For the last six years, without a kitchen, we’ve been bringing in local entrepreneurs that are cooking at home to educate them to understand the process of commissary kitchens and the health department. And then we do one year of incubator, which is our training part.” Jacobo said.

The incubator kitchen is the non-profit arm of El Alba, where Cusi will provide education about the responsibility of being part of the co-op. Other training will also be offered.

“We want to be able to guide them all the way through that process until they’re ready to launch, so that they can have all the tools and resources. Because we know the hardest thing is just overcoming all those barriers to entry with launching a business,” Cusi said.

For now, they’re fielding requests for the commissary kitchen and taking applications for the co-op while working on fully opening the retail area where burritos are on the menu with more food and drink options ahead.

Jacobo and Cusi are developing an apprenticeship program with local colleges and universities, creating workforce development opportunities for the community and recent graduates to work at the El Alba counter.

“We can provide them with opportunities to develop those entrepreneurial and culinary skills and then potentially launch their own business someday. We give them that exposure to this space, training on how to be a barista, how to manage some of the business aspects while seeing all the hustle and bustle of the kitchen,” Cusi said.

He added that apprentices could potentially work with caterers using the kitchen, creating a central opportunity for people to gain the confidence and the skills they need to succeed.

Just a few doors down from El Alba, The Baking Room also serves coffee and breakfast food, along with fresh baked bread. Jacobo is grateful for the support from her neighbor and said this isn’t about competition, it’s about community, and a hope that the patios outside both businesses are filled with neighbors stopping by grabbing some food or just hanging out.

“We’re hopeful that as more small businesses develop along Montview, we strategize together and that we do it in respecting community,” Jacobo said.

Cusi added the mission is to preserve cultural diversity. “We want people to be confident and have opportunities to stay here (in the neighborhood).”

El Alba is located at 11690 E. Montview Blvd. Visit elalbacooperative.net.