Welfare Warriors

Spring 2007

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  Spring 2007

New York Welfare Rights Group
Our Knowledge, Our Power!

 Our Knowledge, Our Power (OKOP) was founded by a diverse group of welfare mothers, advocates and allies. We have different backgrounds, different stories, and different relationships to the social service system. (Some of us are currently on public assistance, others include an ex-case worker, a college professor, local activists, and a student).

We may come from many different places, but we share a mission. We draw on values of respect, local expertise, grassroots process and true democracy. We want to make real, meaningful change in the terribly unfair and exploitative system of public assistance in New York State. It keeps people dependent and poor.

We counteract the alienation and lack of respect that public assistance participants encounter. We share information and resources to bridge the gap between welfare mothers and workers/politicians/the general public.

We believe we can bridge this gap by drawing on our collective power to:

o   Empower people most directly impacted by the social service system;

o   Enlighten people about their rights in the system;

o   Provide tools for navigating the system (including help with the application process);

o   Facilitate knowledge sharing; and

o   Share our needs, challenges and aspirations with other members of the community.

 

In our first meeting, in July 2005, OKOP identified three key problems with the existing public assistance system in New York State:

 1) We trade our rights as citizens to receive benefits.

       2) Caseworkers don’t always do their job very well, or even seem to care.

       3) The welfare system doesn’t promote self-sufficiency or self-determination.

Solutions

In response to these problems, OKOP seeks to create social justice for families on public assistance by:

• Creating spaces to think together. We meet on the second Saturday of every month to learn from each other, develop new skills, and strategize for social change.

• Using media & other tools to share our knowledge. We are excited to be writing for and distributing the Mother Warriors Voice in the Capital Region of NY. We also hope to start producing our own media (maybe a podcast? radio show?) soon.

• Engaging in direct action to change the system. Supported by a grant from Holding Our Own: A Fund for Women, our most successful project to date has been a set of 12 Welfare Information Cards. We researched, planned and produced these cards to provide a "survival guide." We give these cards out in our own neighborhoods, at community events, and at DSS. We’re put 200 sets of these cards into the hands of welfare mamas as a Mothers’ Day gift this May.

Join the Fight!

To know more about our fight to protect the rights of poor parents and their children, or help support our work, or make these kinds of changes in your own community, call us at (518) 892-6697.
Web: www.populartechnology.org or email us at virginia@populartechnology.org.

If you are in the Capital Region of New York, please come to our meeting, especially if you are currently on public assistance! We meet from 12:30 – 3 PM on the second Saturday of every month at the Women’s Building (79 Central Ave.) in Albany, NY. We provide free childcare!