Hello Fellow Adjuncts,
I hope your year is going well!
If you are attending a workshop, a conference, a seminar to learn new skills, or are presenting at a conference, RAFO has a Professional Development Mini-Grant available to help with expenses. The application form is available here (click the download button in the upper right hand corner to download and edit the form), and the application deadline is October 16.
Review the application form and fill out the information requested. All proposals will be reviewed by the professional development committee, and you will be notified if it is approved and the amount that will be provided.
If you have any questions about the form or the grant itself, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Ami Hicks
Ami Hicks, Ed.D., VP RAFO
RAFO, Professional Development
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In 2016, Providence, RI could boast about the positive turn away from gang related homicides when that number
dropped to zero. According to , this model could be the goal the city of Chicago could strive for in lowering the violence in the Austin community. In the discussion titled “The New Architecture of Violence Reduction in Chicago,” the group of panelists of community leaders, outreach directors and a representative from the Chicago Police Department, explained the positive outcomes of having more community activism and involvement in lowering and eliminating violence. While 2016 saw the worst year of gun violence in the city, Ric Estrada, CEO of Metropolitan Family Services, indicated that joining efforts between the police, outreach groups and the community remains vital to serve the neighborhoods and address gang violence. All of the panelists shared their visions and philosophy of turning Chicago towards a positive model of rebuilding the relationships between the community and the outreach workers who are taking a best practices approach from Los Angeles. As a final note, Ernest Cato III, 15th district commander of the Chicago Police Department, stated communities must be partnered to make a positive change in their neighborhoods.
The 26th Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished Lecture was delivered by Kelly Clements, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees. 
Clements opened her lecture with an extended narrative concerning a refugee from Venezuela named Sujit who faced a lack of services, food insecurity, theft, gangs, and constant exhortation before seeking a better future in Colombia, where she and her family moved to escape these issues. Currently, 70 million people are displaced around the world due to a combination of political turmoil, wars, and environmental crisis, but Clement uncovered many of the myths around refugees’ struggles and the international community’s goal of inclusion. Broken into four main components, Clement described how social inclusion, labor considerations plus education, financial support and digital documentation can assist refugees in finding support, security, and a new beginning for their futures. While Syria has the highest number of refugees seeking a new life, Libya has the worst procedures for addressing the refugee responses, detaining families and individuals in centers only to move them to another center rather than assist with permanent relocation. When one attendee addressed the call to action and asked what we could do for the refugees, Clement simply noted that becoming engaged by contributing to a person, a local church, or a community group working with refugees was an action to take or forwarding the view of refugees’ personal narratives as a human issue – not just a numbers game – are steps in the right direction.
Welcome back to Roosevelt! We hope your first couple of days have been a smooth beginning to a successful semester. We have some news and opportunities that you may be interested in!
Opportunities for professional development:
- Writing on the Edge is coming up, and RAFO will reimburse registration costs for up to 10 full-dues-paying members who wish to attend. This conference is specifically for adjunct faculty and will take place Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 8 am – 4 pm at College of DuPage. The conference focuses on writing across the curriculum and invites other disciplines to join the conversation of how to increase learning for students no matter the subject matter. Email us at rafo @ rafo.org if you're interested.
- The Illinois Education Association's ONE Conference is coming up on October 4-5.
Opportunities to support RAFO
RAFO has some spaces for full-dues-paying members to get involved and support the union as we advocate for you. We need members to serve on our professional development, membership, or grievance committees. Please let us know if you're interested in becoming involved with the union.
Finally, RAFO is looking to profile some of our members in the upcoming academic year. Please email us (rafo @ rafo.org) and let us know about your professional accomplishments or nominate yourself or a fellow adjunct to be one of our adjunct feature blogs.
Have a great beginning of the semester, and please be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter to stay up-to-date on current events.
Starting immediately, Roosevelt University employees will use The Work Number® to obtain automated employment verifications. Additionally, income verifications will be available through The Work Number later in the year.
The Work Number from Equifax is a fast, secure way to provide proof of your employment or income. The Work Number simplifies the verification process and lets you share critical work/pay information through an online system that your verifiers can access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Once the income verification launches later this year, Roosevelt University employees may also access one (1) free Employment Data Report (EDR) each year through www.theworknumber.com. The EDR lists complete historical employment and income information, as well as verifier requests for the past two years.
More details: https://inside.roosevelt.edu/spaces/52/human-resources/wiki/view/3130/employment-verification-through-the-work-number
Subcategories
Contracts
RAFO Members:
As lead negotiator for the 2020-2024 contract, I am pleased to announce that your negotiating team and Roosevelt University have come to an agreement. RAFO is extremely pleased with the final outcome and we believe you will be, too. The University was adamant on 0% for the first year, but as an offset for that 0%, we negotiated a signing bonus of $150 for each bargaining unit member that taught either in Spring 2020 or will teach in the upcoming Fall 2020 semester. That then takes us into the final three years of the contract where adjuncts will receive a 2% increase for each of those years.
As I hope you can see from the above, RAFO worked hard to ensure that you are rewarded for the professionalism and integrity all have shown during these unusual and trying times. We are attaching a copy of the final contract for you to review and eventually ratify. The areas that appear in green are changes that were made to the verbiage in the contract that will support RAFO during the upcoming 4 years. Appendix A reflects the 2% increase for each step in the final three years.
A link with the time will be sent next week for all to join this a zoom meeting, where we can answer your questions about the contract.
In closing, we hope you will be as excited as we are regarding the new contract.
In solidarity,
Don Wlodarski and the RAFO team:
Jen Wilson, Joseph Fedorko, Amelia Hicks, Stan Traywick, Mike Pinsoff and Dennis Tucker
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