Works In Progress - October 2007 - Update on Welfare Organizing: POWER to the people

What has your local welfare rights group in Olympia been doing since you heard from us in the June Works in Progress (“What’s Up With WROC?”) We have been continuing the daily work of giving information to low income people about their rights at the welfare office, providing witnesses to people for their welfare appointments, doing weekly outreach at the welfare office with coffee and pastries, providing volunteer, intern and work study opportunities for office and community organizing work, insisting the voice of low-income parents be present at legislative and policy hearings, educating our communities about the realities of families in poverty and pointing out through direct action the inequities people in poverty face every day.

We have been moving forward with the guidance of a ten member temporary Board of Directors who have called monthly board/member meetings to craft vision, values, mission and to choose a name. Because our decisions are made through consensus, this work is progressing slowly, but we are proud to present our new name and vision:

Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights (power) envisions a world where children and care giving are truly valued, and the devastation of poverty has been eradicated.

We appreciate the help of Grace Cox in guiding us through the consensus process. Thanks to all of you who have held or participated in local fundraisers, made donations, or volunteered, we have been able to keep our office running and pay our bills. Thanks to the Center for Community Organizing at Evergreen, we have a work-study student as staff.

We still need your support. We now have an umbrella organization, the International Trauma Treatment Program, which is sharing its tax-exempt status while we continue working toward our own. Your donations are now tax-deductible! Consider a small monthly donation or a larger annual donation. We have applied for a grant through the Human Services Review Council. If you know someone on the council, let them know the importance of supporting local welfare rights work. If you would like to help us with grant writing, technical skills, (we need to build a new database) or other volunteer positions, contact us at power, 701 Franklin Street SE, Olympia, WA 98501, (360) 352-9716, welfarerights@riseup.net. We still hold volunteer meetings every Wednesday at 1:30 at our office in the Payne Room of the First Christian Church, where you can plug into our work and learn to make a sock monkey.

Consider making a donation of arts or crafts for our winter art celebration and sale. (Artists can keep up to 50% of the proceeds).

Please see the announcements section for details about the upcoming Mom’s Night Out (page 2) and our next power Membership/Board meeting (page 5).