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The Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute developed the Colorado Self-Sufficiency Standard (SSS), a tool to help Coloradans — particularly policymakers, government agency staff and service providers — understand what it takes to move out of poverty and become self-sufficient. We supported the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, a project of the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, to research and publish a Self-Sufficiency Standard (SSS) in Colorado in 2001. The SSS is a tool to help Coloradans — particularly policymakers, government agency staff and service providers — better understand what it takes to move out of poverty and become self-sufficient. It documents the true costs of living in Colorado on a county-by-county basis by family type and size. This tool provides more accurate information than the federal poverty level about the costs of living and working in Colorado and can therefore better determine how much income Coloradans need to become self-sufficient. We partnered with Rose Community Foundation and the Women’s Foundation of Colorado to update the SSS to reflect changes in the costs of living and working in Colorado, particularly in the areas of health care and housing, in order to be an effective tool. Updated in 2004, the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Colorado: A Family Needs Budget (*PDF) provides a benchmark for income adequacy in Colorado. *PDFs require the Acrobat Reader. The next step in implementing the SSS across a broad range of public and private agencies is to develop a Self-Sufficiency Calculator for Colorado. We have provided funding to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy to research and develop a Self-Sufficiency Calculator. This Calculator will be a unique web-based tool, that can be used by agencies to access the SSS and determine what a family or individual needs to earn to be self-sufficient. The calculator will also provide information on eligibility for social services such as child care assistance, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Plan. The Self-Sufficiency Standard and Calculator will provide more accurate information on wages and costs of living, to guide opinion leaders and decision makers to better understand what individuals and families in Colorado really need to become self-sufficient. |
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