Financial Help for Adjunct Faculty
NOTE: In addition to the resources listed below, we have expanded our outreach to help adjuncts more directly. Our AAUP CCCS chapters have begun hosting Adjunct Survival Workshops on campuses, so that adjuncts may speak directly with state and local officials to find food, shelter, health care, utility bill assistance, etc. Please attend the next workshop on your campus. Meet some of the experts standing by to help us. We are raising awareness of the life crises facing 4,600+ CCCS adjuncts whose wages remain thousands below the living wage for Colorado's front-range communities. Many of us rely on these programs so that we may continue teaching.
Health Care:
Many adjunct faculty like you qualify for indigent care through the Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP).
Typically, through this program, if you become ill and go to a nearby hospital, you are responsible for only 10% of the charges incurred. The hospital can arrange a payment plan of a monthly fee, on terms that work for you, to pay the 10% over time. The link below provides all the details you need. Apply for the cards now, so that whenever you need to visit the emergency room, you will be prepared. Because adjunct faculty have no health insurance, you may mistakenly believe you need to wait until you are quite ill before you seek medical attention.
Colorado Indigent Care Program
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/HCPF/HCPF/1214299805914
Housing:
Because adjunct faculty wages are so low, you likely qualify for either subsidized housing or help with rent where you are currently living. Some of these funds have been temporarily suspended due to the federal sequestration. Nevertheless, it is well worth your time to determine if you qualify for housing assistance. Each county structures and funds their housing assistance differently. The lottery for Section 8 housing closed in September. We found out recently, however, that the City of Denver Dept. of Human Services is keenly aware of the hardship rising real estate prices are imposing on low-income workers such as the majority of teachers in the Colorado Community College System. We have contacts in the Dept. of Human Services. E-mail us and we can give you the information if you are in the City and County of Denver (as are so many faculty who teach at Community College of Denver.)
Adams County (Westminster campus area)
http://www.adamscountyhousing.com/resources/faqs/section-8
Boulder County (Longmont campus area)
http://www.bouldercounty.org/family/housing/pages/housingassistance.aspx
Larimer County (Ft. Collins campus area)
http://www.larimer.org/compass/subsidized_housing_CD_housing.htm
Weld County (Brighton campus area)
http://www.greeley-weldha.org/
Other counties in Colorado
http://www.housingvoucher.org/landers/search/112-section8-v1/
Utility Assistance:
The Low-income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) provides heating-bill help to those earning poverty-level wages, as are community college adjunct faculty.
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDHS-SelfSuff/CBON/1251580884665
Food stamps:
You likely qualify for both food stamps and permission to use food banks. In Colorado, food stamps per se have been replaced with the Quest Card, which is more discreet to use than are food stamps. You will need to bring pay stubs and other information to the office when you apply, and it will likely take you several hours or up to an afternoon to do so. Be sure, then, you set aside time to apply on a day you aren't teaching. Here is the pertinent information.
State of Colorado Food Stamp (Quest Card) Program:
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/CDHS-SelfSuff/CBON/1251580884676
Food Banks:
Our chapter is now making weekly visits to food banks to assist adjuncts who need food and also to remove the stigma from food bank use. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of the staff at food banks we have been visiting are already aware of situation in the community colleges. They are more than glad to help low-wage earners such as FRCC adjunct faculty. We recommend calling first for details before visiting the food banks to verify what you need to bring. Often it is just a photo ID, a piece of mail verifying your residency, and a recent pay stub.
Adams County: Food Bank of the Rockies:
Boulder and Broomfield County: Community Foodshare:
Ph: (303) 652-3663
Denver County: Food Bank of the Rockies
Ph. (720) 382-2920
Larimer County: Food Bank for Larimer County
Ph: (970) 493-4477
http://www.foodbanklarimer.org/
Weld County: Food Banks and Soup Kitchens:
(Note: Parts of Longmont are in Weld County)
Ph: (303) 652-3663
A complete list of Weld County food banks:
http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgi-bin/id/countyfb.cgi?county=Weld-County&state=CO
Transportation Assistance:
How do you get to college to teach your classes if you can no longer afford to maintain a car? The Denver Office of Economic Development has partnered with RTD to arrange a few programs that might accommodate the unusual schedules of adjuncts who must often teach at various schools/campuses to make ends try to meet. This site offers some helpful information:
Denver Office of Economic Development
Boulder County Transportation Assistance
Minor Home Repair Assistance:
For many adjunct faculty, having a toilet or a sink break is a financial catastrophe, especially if it happens during the months of January, February, June or August, when we are typically without a paycheck. Although resources are scarce, the following volunteer/quasi-governmental agencies may be able to offer some help:
Adams County:
http://www.co.adams.co.us/index.aspx?NID=456
Boulder County:
http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/index.php?option=com_content&id=1949&Itemid=574
Larimer County:
http://www.lovelandhsg.org/Housing_Ownership_LHIP.htm
Weld County:
http://www.heroalliance.org/id7.html
Other Help:
Depending on your luck finding work off campus to supplement your wages as CCCS adjunct faculty, and work that will accommodate the varying hours you are assigned to teach from semester to semester, you may also qualify for further financial assistance. Register with the Human Services agency in each county at the start of the semester to familiarize yourself with various programs in case you may need them.
Adams County Human Services:
http://co-adamscounty.civicplus.com/index.aspx?nid=428
Boulder County and Human and Housing Services:
http://www.bouldercounty.org/family/financial/pages/default.aspx
Larimer County Human Services:
http://www.co.larimer.co.us/humanservices/
Weld County Department of Human Services:
https://www.co.weld.co.us/Departments/HumanServices/index.html