The Hours Question
At Colorado minimum wage ($14.42/hour), here is what your numbers mean in terms of actual work time.
| Hours to cover Part A (your personal spending) per month | — |
| Hours to cover Part C (family expenses) per month | — |
| Total hours per month to sustain your life | — |
| Weeks of full-time work (40 hrs/wk) per month | — |
| Annual hours needed at minimum wage | — |
What This Means
If you had to earn your entire cost of living at minimum wage starting today, you would need to work essentially full-time just to break even — before saving anything, before emergencies, before building toward anything.
This is why preparation matters. The skills in this lesson — knowing how funding decisions get made, how to show up prepared, how to write the email — translate directly into economic mobility.
From Your Budget to Your City\'s Budget
The Same Three Lines. A Different Scale.
You have now mapped the finances of one life — yours. Housing, food, health, education, movement, the things people spend on you and why. Your city runs the same calculation. Money coming in. Money going out. And a gap when the second is larger than the first.
Every week, El Paso County holds public meetings where funding decisions get made for organizations serving the most vulnerable people in this city. Go to bocc.elpasoco.com and find the most recent CDAC meeting minutes. Look at one line item for a social services organization. The difference between what they requested and what they received — that is the number.
"Find the gap in your city\'s budget. Translate it into the language your brain uses best. Write to the person who can close it. Come back next month and see what happened. Four steps. Repeatable. Scalable. Works in Colorado Springs, works in any city."
What Comes Next — The Civic Application
You can read a budget. Now go to the room where budgets get decided.
The Community Development Advisory Committee meets the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 12:30 PM, 9 E. Vermijo Ave. It allocates federal CDBG dollars to organizations that serve the people who need the services in this lesson. No application required to attend. Your presence is a civic credential the moment you walk in.
4 Hours · Entry Level
Attend one CDAC meeting + submit one written comment
Your name in the public record. A reference contact. One story worth telling on a college application.
12 Hours · Scholarship Level
Apply for a county board advisory position
A reference letter. A resume line. The specific ability to say: "I served on the CDAC and tracked funding outcomes." That is an unusual thing for someone your age to be able to say.
"The skills in this lesson — reading a budget, identifying a gap, writing a public comment with specific numbers — are the skills that earn you a seat at the table earlier than most people get there. You just learned them. Use them."
Apply for a county board →
Read the next agenda →
Jordan's letter templates →
