Hardship Fund donations will begin to be allocated to Vassar employees by July 1

In an all-campus e-mail sent on June 10, President Catharine Bond Hill urged members of the Vassar community to make donations by June 15 to the Hardship Fund, an initiative meant to support Vassar employees who may be struggling financially.

"The fund is in support of those who are facing economic hardship, because the College has had to reduce their non-contractual work hours," wrote Hill. "I ask those of you who are intending to make a contribution to do so in the near future, preferably by June 15, as we anticipate that the greatest need for support will come over the next month."

As reported in a May 21 article in The Miscellany News ("College establishes Hardship Fund, Web site after negotiations"), the College created the fund as a result of negotiations between Senior Officers and a group of students protesting cuts in summer employment, which were made after the College learned that fewer summer programs and camps would be offered on campus than in previous years.

The fund will be administered by a committee that includes Royce Drake '10, Professor of History Rebecca Edwards, Assistant Director of Human Resources Tanhena Pacheco Dunn, Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Sam Speers and Maureen Lashlee from the Community Action Partnership. The committee will work to allocate the fund to employees based on need as demonstrated in an application or a personal interview. 

Employees with a gross Vassar income of $42,500 or less for the 2008-09 fiscal year—and who have experienced a reduction in employment—are eligible to apply for the fund. The application limits the amount that an applicant can receive to $2,500, which may be used for basic needs such as rent payment or for urgent need, such as a medical emergency. It offers the options of a consultation with a professional client advocate from the Community Action Partnership, a meeting with a person at Vassar while filling out the form and a personal meeting with the committee.

Although the College created the Hardship Fund to help employees facing a reduction in summer employment, the fund will be available for the remainder of 2009. The committee hopes to begin allocating funds by July 1, the date when seasonal summer employment begins.

According to Hill, in order to donate or to apply to the fund, community members can go to the Hardship Fund's Web site—hardshipfund.vassar.edu. Applications will also be available in the Office of Human Resources, and donation forms are available in the Office of Campus Activities.