Aurora candidates for City Council and mayor spoke to a room of people in headsets and nine translators at a multilingual candidate forum Thursday, during which candidates largely addressed issues — like housing prices and resources for immigrants and refugees — that are specific to the Ward I community.

The forum, hosted by the Grassroots Leadership Council and cohosted by several other community organizations, was translated into nine different languages: Spanish, Swahili, Karen, Nepali, Wolof, Rohingya, Pulaar and Amharic.

Aurora is among the most diverse cities in Colorado, according to the city’s “Who is Aurora” 2022 report.

Almost 80,000 residents of Aurora are foreign-born and almost 125,000 Aurora residents speak a language other than English at home, accounting for over 30% of the city’s population, according to city statistics.

There are more than 160 languages spoken in Aurora schools, according to a city fact sheet.

East Colfax Community Collective spokesperson Brendan Greene said the forum was important to their community in making sure people who don’t speak English and want to vote and be involved in their local politics have a platform to get information.

They also sent out texts in multiple languages to inform people of the event, Greene said.

“We’re working together to make sure that this election process is accessible to a diverse community,” Greene said. “We’ve had a really big focus on interpretation tonight. The house is packed with people who are invested in this community and want to be a part of the civic process but a lot of times aren’t given the access to be able to do that.”

Crowds of people filed into the Dayton Street Opportunity Center in Aurora’s East Colfax community, fully packing the center’s seating area and taking up all standing room.

Organizers handed audience members headsets, which they could turn to the channel providing translation for their spoken language.

Nine translators stood in various parts of the room with mics and paper to block sound while they listened to the candidates talk and translated their responses into the microphones for the audience members with headsets.

Each translator had signs they held up on multiple occasions telling the candidates, who are used to speaking quickly in their short allotted time frames, to slow down. Several times, the candidates were told to stop to let the translators catch up.

The candidates present — Alison Coombs, Thomas Mayes, Mike Coffman, Jeffrey Sanford and Juan Marcano — answered questions about many issues facing the general Aurora community, but honed in on issues specific to Ward I residents.

Candidates got questions from community groups and later from audience members about issues including small business support, immigration, homelessness, housing affordability, food insecurity and public safety.

All three mayoral candidates attended, but only half of the at-large council candidates attended, with candidates Jono Scott and Curtis Gardner missing.

Two at-large council seats will be filled in November’s election from a pool of four candidates. The mayor’s candidates’ pool includes three candidates.

Wards IV, V and VI candidates will also appear on November’s ballot, with two candidates vying for one seat in each of the wards.

Ballots are due Nov. 7.