Tammy Bellofatto had been the executive director of Bayaud Enterprises for fewer than six months when COVID-19 arrived in Colorado. The nonprofit uses a range of programs to help Denverites facing barriers to employment, such as disability or homelessness, find and keep jobs. But many of Bayaud’s pay-for-service offers, such as its document shredding business, could not operate during the stay-at-home order.
Bayaud was losing money fast, so Bellofatto got creative. The nonprofit started delivering meals, roughly 6,000 per day, assisted at shelters and even launched a security company to help the city at vaccination sites.
“I had to pivot to keep the organization alive,” Bellofatto said. “We picked up contracts totaling over $5 million providing COVID response to people experiencing homelessness, and we ended up thriving during the pandemic. The only people that were furloughed during this time were people that did not want to work in COVID response. We hired 80 new employees the first two weeks of the pandemic.”
Bellofatto grew up in Long Island, New York, and moved to Green Mountain, Colorado, with her parents when she was 13. She later worked for a phone company and started a traveling karaoke business.
Around age 30, Bellofatto began partying and taking drugs, which landed her in jail in 2003. While awaiting sentencing, Bellofatto worked with the Arapahoe House, a treatment facility for people struggling with drugs and alcohol. She was sentenced to a yearlong stay in the halfway house rather than prison, which allowed her to continue to work and receive drug treatment. In 2008, Bellofatto was recruited by the Felons Regaining Equal Employment Coalition, helping those with felonies get jobs. There, she learned to uncover individuals’ motivations and pinpoint jobs they might excel at and enjoy.
Bellofatto worked her way into jobs with La Raza, serving Denver’s Latino population, and as a vocational specialist at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. During her eight-plus years at the coalition, Bellofatto climbed to leadership roles and helped grow the nonprofit’s vocational services department from two employees to more than 20.
In 2018, the Denver Institute of Urban Studies awarded her an honorary doctorate in public service. That same year, thenGovernor John Hickenlooper pardoned Bellofatto, wiping the felony off her record. When David Henninger, who founded Bayaud Enterprises in 1969 and served as the nonprofit’s executive director since 1973, announced his retirement, Bellofatto applied for the position. She now leads the organization, supporting 4,000 people per year.
