My name is Jelisa Bell-Adair and I am a clinical social worker, activist, and writer living in Rhode Island. After working in higher education settings for over a decade, I experienced a traumatic job loss in 2025, two years before I was eligible to benefit from Public Service Loan Forgiveness which I had been counting on to discharge my federal loan debt which was accrued through my undergraduate and graduate studies.

My job loss came at a time when higher education institutions have become increasingly hostile places to work, especially as a queer black social worker committed to social justice. It became very clear to me that the kind of work that I do in supporting marginalized communities and fighting back against the rise of fascism could not be done sustainably while working full-time in higher education, and so I have expanded my private practice in an effort to find more effective ways of creating change.

However, leaving institutions has also meant losing institutional support. My goal in being a social worker was never to be a full-time clinician, I have always sought to create opportunities for engaging with larger groups and systems of people. In my private practice, I have chosen to do this through offering opportunities for community programs, most notably the Burnt Out Book Club, a free offering that I hope to expand in 2027. However, this is not work that I can bill for, and rather than put this work behind a paywall, I wanted to find a way to create more opportunities for radical trust and support within my community.

With this in mind, I thought about the primary support that being connected to higher education offered-the chance at loan forgiveness. Between private and federal loans, I currently have a balance of $55,500 in student loan debt, which means that my monthly student loan payment is over $500/month. I am soliciting donations to help pay down the student loan debt that I no longer have a clear path to discharge through Public Service Loan Forgiveness. If you are able to, please support my clinical work, the As Above Collective, and the Burnt Out Book Club by donating to helping discharge my debt.

Donations will be used first to pay off federal student loan debt totaling $38,000 and then private student loan debt of $18,000. Any excess funds will be used to create a fund for accessing trainings to expand my clinical expertise.