The 2009 Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign/Social Welfare Action Alliance Joint Conference, Workshops & Strategy Sessions

“Building the Unsettling Force”: A National Conference to End Poverty

Louisville, KY July 16 – 19th

 

 

Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

The dispossessed of this nation — the poor, both white and Negro live in a cruelly unjust society.  They must organize a revolution against that injustice, not against the lives of persons who are their fellow citizens, but against the structures through which the society is refusing to take means which have been called for, and which are at hand, to lift the load of poverty. . .  

Social Welfare Action Alliance

Social Welfare Action Alliance

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose.  If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life.  

Martin Luther King, Jr. December, 1967

 
PPEHRC – http://old.economichumanrights.org/index.shtml

Social Welfare Action Alliance – http://www.socialwelfareactionalliance.org/

 

Arenas of Struggle Dialogs & Facilitators (Friday, 11:00-12:30)

The following are community-wide dialog sessions organized by the primary arenas of struggle in which we work.  They are intended to explore further the morning’s examination of our historical and contemporary context.  Facilitators will make a brief presentation to stimulate discussion.  

The Right to Health – Ethel Long-Scott, Women’s Economic Agenda Project Sandy Perry, CHAM Deliverance Ministry  

The Right to a Living Wage – Logan Martinez, Nat’l Jobs for All Coalition Representatives from UNITE  

The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water – Cheri Honkala, PPEHRC 

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement – Deeq Abdi, Ricky Brunner, & Bobbie Patterson, MN PPEHRC Representatives from Loring Nicollet Alternative School 

The Right to Communication/The Media – Heather M. Kendell, ASL Advocates Representative from Tribuno del Pueblo

Arts & Culture – Lee Ballinger, Rock A Mole Productions Shamako Noble, Hip-Hop Congress & PPEHRC

Local to Global Movement-Building:  The International Arena & Immigration -Rosemary Barbera, Monmouth University Jen Cox, PPEHRC International Committee

Religion & Faith Communities – Rev. Bruce Wright, Tampa Refuge Ministries  

Policy, Legislation & the Legal Arena – Cecelia Perry, AFSCME[1] Larry Bresler, PPEHRC

Social work & Human Services  – Khalilah Collins, Women in Transition Jennifer R. Jewell, Spalding University Mary Bricker-Jenkins, PPEHRC & Temple University

1Workshop/Strategy Session Series #1:  Data & Analysis  (Friday, 1:30-3:00)[2]

The Right to Health 

It begins with me: Confronting reproductive health issues – Mary Wallace  

The right to recovery – Sr. Margaret McKenna and representatives from New Jerusalem Laura  

The Right to a Living Wage

Creating Wage Campaigns – Attica Scott

Welfare cuts and “the right to just and favorable remuneration”– Cecilia Perry, AFSCME[3]  

The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water

Gulf coast hurricanes: Four years later – Davida Finger, Bill Quigley and Tracie Washington

The privatization of utilities & the need for projects of survival in a movement to end poverty – Cheri Honkala, PPEHRC, Galen Tyler, KWRU, and Ann Paterson, MN PPEHRC  

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement

Critical themes for social work educators as partners – Rhonda Impink  

The right to education – Representatives from S.T.O.P. and MN PPEHRC

The Right to Communication/The Media

Breaking the media blackout – Tim Dowlin and Peter Cooper, KWRU  

Media Justice — Julie Chang Schulman, Hip Hop Congress  

Arts & Culture

The epistemology of hip-hop — Shamako Noble  

Local to Global Movement-Building/The International Arena

Youth poverty and their choice in South Korea – Hwang Hyo Jin

Planning for the World Court of Women on Poverty and Homelessness in the USA—Marguerite Waller  

Religion & Faith Communities

The role of faith communities in ending poverty – Sr. Dorothy Pagosa and Katie Varatta, The 8th Day Center for Justice  

On the street where we live – The Simple Way  

Policy, Legislation  & the Legal Arena

Drug laws, prison reform, poverty and community – Lisa Withrow

Criminalization of homelessness – Rev. Bruce Wright, Tampa Refugee Ministries  

Social work & Human Services

Round and round we go: Contemporary anti-poverty initiatives, class bias and implications for progressive human services – Michel Coconis

The impact of poverty on domestic violence – Nadia Chivers

 

2.  Workshop/Strategy Session Series #2:  Tools (Saturday, 10:30-noon)

The Right to Health

Self-care: A model of health-care based on autonomy, community and empowerment – WENCH

Claiming the right to health — Members of ADAPT and Kentucky Injured Workers

The Right to a Living Wage

Organizing community-labor coalitions for community benefits agreements in African American communities – Bonnie Young Laing

Generating knowledge to eliminate injustices in port-adjacent communities – Rosemary Barbera, Jennifer Ristow, and Trina Scordo

 The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water

Homeownership, foreclosure and low income and minority communities – Amy Murphy-Nugen

Takeovers, tent cities, and holding foreclosed homes –Jay Mazon, Nashville Homeless Power Project and representatives of MN PPEHRC and KWRU

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement

The use of SPIN to devalue people and the environment:  Our responsibility – Kim Teska

Educational engagement:” What works, what doesn’t — Joanne Hessmiller, Marywood University

The Right to Communication/The Media

How to write your own book – Anne Peak

Radical Writing Workshop – Marcia Cohen, Sadie Fowler, and Flower Noble, JPHS

Arts & Culture

New solutions to age-old problems through music and art — Lee Ballinger and Ernie Perez, Rock A Mole

Local to Global Movement-Building/The International Arena

Can freedom be fostered: A study of Afghan women – Nairutti Jani

Tools of the trade:  PPEHRC’s global network – Tara Colon, KWRU and PPEHRC International Committee

Religion & Faith Communities

Poverty of spirit: When the invisible wall becomes visible – Pearl Gillespie, Spalding University

The role of faith in the liberation of the poor – Rev. Bruce Wright, Tampa Refugee Ministries

Policy, Legislation & the Legal Arena

How the ACLU can be of assistance to grassroots groups – Kendell Nash

Can Obama’s laws and lawyers end poverty? – Cecelia Perry and Larry Bresler

Social work & Human Services

Social workers and self-care during the tough economic times – Sharon Moore, Ramona Stone, Armon Perry, Michael Robinson

Is social work in the US ready for Marxism? – Sam Coleman

 

3.  Workshop/Strategy Session Series #3:  Tactics (Saturday, 1:00-2:30) 

The Right to Health

A conversation on Health Equity – Joshua Jennings and the Center for Health Equity

Reproductive Justice is a Human Right – Loretta Ross and Sister Song members

The Right to a Living Wage

Poverty Credits – Ezra Rosser

“Are rich people evil?” Revisited – Brett Seabury

The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water

The struggle continues: Fighting for a new home in post-Katrina New Orleans  – Endisha Juakali and JR Fleming

At the eye of the storm and beyond – Sgt. Davis Kring, Wavers/Mississippi PPEHRC and Antoinette Harrell, Gatherings of Heart

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement

Power not pity:  Integrating political education and organizing to claim human rights – Shamako Noble, Hip Hop Congress/PPEHRC

The Right to Communication/The Media

Can on-line social communities contribute to the unsettling force– Warren Yoder

Documenting Human Rights Violations: Oral documentation, video, & Truth Commissions – Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Khalilah Collins, and Arun Prabhakaran, PPEHRC

Arts & Culture

Theater of the Oppressed – Members of Women in Transition (WIT)

Local to Global Movement-Building/The International Arena

Abolishing poverty and human rights violations: The case of Chile – Miguel Sanchez

US aid to Israel: Robbing Boutros while fleecing Paul – John Swanson

Religion & Faith Communities

Networking session 

Policy, Legislation  & the Legal Arena

Using international law and instruments to claim human rights — Bret Thiele

Claiming the right to housing: WRAP tactics – Paul Boden

Social work & Human Services

Organizing for the rights of kinship caregivers – Lynn Williams, Quo Vadis Ellison, Loretta Hunter, Mary Causey, and Cassandra Barham

SWAA: Taking a non position “position” on criminal justice – Michel Coconis

 

4.  Workshop/Strategy Session Series #4:  Strategies (Saturday, 2:45-4:15)

The Right to Health

Setting the table for the “single-payer” solution – Dave MacCool and Rev. David Bos, Kentuckians for Single Payer Healthcare and Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP)

The Right to a Living Wage

“The Other America”: Revisited in Kentucky – David Ellenbrook and Luther Brown

Full employment: One real way to end poverty – Gertrude Goldberg and Marguerite Rosenthal

The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water

Sisters of the Road: A systemic change approach to poverty and homelessness – Monica Beemer, Lisa Hawash, and Richard Walden

The fight to save public housing – Members of STOP & the Nat’l Alliance of HUD Tenants

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement

Students in the movement for economic human rights – Connor, Natashia Euler, and representatives of KWRU

The Right to Communication/The Media

Covering the fight, not just the plight – Dottie Stevens and members of Survivors, Inc.

Overcoming barriers to communication – Heather Kendell and Michael Haynesworth, ASL Advocates

Arts & Culture

Picture this:  Using photography to mobilize the unsettling force – Harvey Finkle and Marcia Cohen

Local to Global Movement-Building/The International Arena

Another world is urgent:  Linking the poor of the US to movements worldwide to confront the global crisis –PPEHRC International Committee

A conversation with international guests:  Birgit Daiber & Roland Kulke, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and others TBA

Religion & Faith Communities

Living our faith:  Building the PPEHRC Religious Organizing Committee – Peter Larson, KWRU/PPEHRC

Policy, Legislation  & the Legal Arena

A State-level strategy for funding human needs — Diana King and Tim Walters, Organize Ohio!

They won’t televise it, but will they fund it?—Cheri Honkala and the Freedom Fighters for Foundation Funding

Social work & Human Services

Tribal and intentional communities: Social laboratories for confronting the effects of poverty – Kevin Gebhart and Christine Blackstone

Claiming our rights, reclaiming our children: An example of the poor organizing the poor – Members of Women in Transition

 

5.  Workshop/Strategy Session Series #5: Visions, Plans & Actions (Saturday, 4:30-6:00) 

The Right to Health

Local and national organizing for the right to health:  Representatives of CAN, members of STOP, and Galen Tyler, KWRU

Holistic health and the medical model:  Can they coexist?  Sr. Margaret McKenna, New Jerusalem Laura

The Right to a Living Wage

Local and national organizing for a Living Wage and the Employee Free Choice Act – Members of UNITE, Centro Obrero, and Logan Martinez, National Jobs Coalition

The Right to Housing, Utilities, & Water

Local and national organizing for the right to housing — Sandy Perry, Eve Wood, and Steve Chehy, CHAM/CA PPEHRC

The Right to Education/Youth in the Movement

Redefining and claiming the right to education — Cheri Honkala and Shamako Noble

The Right to Communication/The Media

Claiming the media, communicating the message – Dottie Stevens and Arun Prabhakaran

Arts & Culture

Using all the senses to come to our senses — Tim Dowlin and Natashia Euhler  

Local to Global Movement-Building/The International Arena

Consciousness, vision and strategy for the 21st century bottom-up movement building – Walda Katz-Fishman and Jerome Scott

Religion & Faith Communities

Linking global faith communities working for peace and justice – Sr. Dorothy Pagosa and Katie Varatta, 8th Day Center for Justice

Policy, Legislation  & the Legal Arena

Legal strategies and movement strategies:  Strange bedfellows? — Bill Quigley, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Larry Bresler, PPEHRC

Social work & Human Services

If you build, they will come: SWAA Chapter Development – Barbara Kasper, Melissa Affronti, Melissa Sydor, and Nicholas Coulter, Rochester SWAA

Using an economic human rights lens in social work practice — Carrie Young, Philadelphia Prison Association & Temple University, Monica Beemer, Sisters of the Road, and Mary Bricker-Jenkins, PPEHRC and Temple University


[1] For identification purposes only

[2] Because some presenters were available only one day, some workshops have been moved among session series and may focus on other dimensions of the topic—e.g., “tactics” more than “data & analyses.”

 

[3] For identification purposes only

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