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DENVER (KDVR) — Denver will begin accepting applications for its 5 Star Certification Program starting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

What is the 5 Star Certification Program?

The program encourages businesses to implement safety measures beyond what is already required by public health orders and guidelines. Essentially, it allows businesses to operate under less strict state restrictions if they take additional measures to help protect staff and customers from COVID-19 and pass an inspection.

Once they get the 5 Star approval, businesses can operate under the restriction level one lower than their county’s on the state’s COVID-19 dial. In doing so, the City and County of Denver says businesses will be able to expand operational capacity, which will help Denver’s economy recover.

Denver is currently under Level Orange restrictions.

How to apply

Businesses can apply for the certification program online at denver5star.org (multiple languages are available).

The landing page provides instructional videos and checklists that will help businesses prepare for the on-site audit that is required for certification. Businesses will be asked to pay a nominal fee in accordance with revenue size for the application.

Per state guidelines, business sectors that have had limitations put on them due to public health orders are eligible to apply for the 5 Star program, including general business, personal services, indoor events, restaurants and gyms.

There will be a fee to apply depending on the size of the business as follows (subject to change):

<$1M Annual Revenue (2019): $25 fee
$1M – $5M Annual Revenue (2019): $75 fee
$5M+ Annual Revenue (2019): $150 fee

This small fee helps offset the program costs that are being covered through private sector fundraising efforts. No additional fee will be charged to the business.

What’s next?

At this time, applications are only open for pre-certification. Denver must maintain seven days of stable or declining Level Orange metrics as defined by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) before the program can be fully implemented.

Businesses that are pre-certified will be notified when the program takes effect and will be issued their official certification at that time.

Denver is planning a phase approach in implementing the certification program. The first application round will include 500 businesses.

Get more information

In order to help businesses prepare for certification, the city is hosting three virtual live town halls:

All certification materials will be available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese when the application launches. If other languages are required, the city will make accommodations.

Many Denver 5 Star Certification outreach partners, volunteers and staff are multi-lingual and will be working directly with business owners in their primary language whenever possible.

Businesses needing additional interpretation services for this program can contact the city at dedo@denvergov.org. Sign language interpreters and real-time captioning via CART can be provided, a three business days’ notice is requested, SignLanguageServices@denvergov.org. For all other public accommodation requests/concerns, DisabilityAccess@denvergov.org