Welfare Rights Initiative

Celebrates Our 17^th Cohort

at

WRI’s Annual Gala

Thursday, May 24, 2012 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

@ Hunter College West 8th Floor Faculty Dining Room

Honoring: Kathy Goldman, long-time community activist and founder of The Community Food Resource Center (CFRC);

Degna P. Levister, Clinical Law Professor and Supervising Attorney of Economic Justice Clinic, City University of New York School of Law;

Stephen Loffredo, Professor of Law and Supervising Attorney of Economic Justice Clinic, City University of New York School of Law;

Yvonne L. Moore, Executive Director, Daphne Foundation;

Cohort 17, Graduates of WRI’s one-year Community Leadership Program Fall 2011-Spring 2012.

Won’t you please support our mission to ensure access to education for all?

Every dollar raised sends a powerful message that poverty is simply not an option for our students. There are several meaningful ways to support WRI’s mission:

WRI Visionary Circle

$10,000 or more

• Reserved Table for 10 at the WRI Annual Gala.
• Sponsor Acknowledgement: Gala Program, Ceremony, Press Materials and Website.
• Opportunity to present a Community Leadership Award at the WRI Annual Gala.
• Framed and personalized original artwork  by WRI students.

WRI Leadership Circle

$5,000-$9,999

• Reserved table for 10 at the WRI Annual Gala.
• Sponsor Acknowledgement: Gala Program, Ceremony, Press Materials and Website.

WRI Patrons

$1,000 to $4,999

• 10 Tickets to the WRI Annual Gala.
• Sponsor Acknowledgement: Gala Program and Website.

WRI Advocates

$500 to $999

• 8 tickets to the WRI Annual Gala.
• Listing in the Gala Program.

WRI Friends

$100 to $499

• 4 tickets to the WRI Annual Gala.
• Listing in the Gala Program

WRI Alumni Admission

$50

• 1 ticket to the WRI Annual Gala.

WRI is a nonprofit, student activist and leadership training organization located at Hunter College. For more information about Gala and other sponsorship opportunities, please contact Maureen Lane at (212) 650-3494 or maureen@wri-ny.org.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!

All donations are welcomed and tax-deductible to the extent of the law.
Please make checks payable to:  The Research Foundation of CUNY for WRI.

Employer matching gifts are greatly appreciated!

We are the Welfare Rights Initiative.

Based at Hunter College in NYC, Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving access to education as a steppingstone to life-changing opportunity. Each year, we assist hundreds of bright, ambitious, undergraduate students who are
striving for a better future despite the daily challenges caused by
financial instability.

Through academic courses, leadership training, legal assistance, policy education and advocacy, WRI’s participant-driven model builds essential skills and opens up personal advancement options for people on public assistance. Our staff and volunteers also collaborate with other activists, legislators and community leaders to defend and promote fair and just policies that remove potential barriers to education.

Celebrate Success!

We invite you to meet some of our accomplished alumni and the next graduating class of WRI success stories. We hope you will join us on Thursday, May 24, 2012 for our Annual Gala to socialize, raise funds and honor our 17^th student cohort as they celebrate completion of the one-year WRI Community Leadership Program. We are very proud to share this milestone event with you.

We believe no one should have to spend a lifetime clocking in and out of a dead-end, low-wage job. We also believe families on welfare shouldn’t have to choose between their survival and a chance to lift themselves and their children up to higher ground through higher education. Skills and credentials make all the difference. With your support, WRI is breaking the cycle of poverty, restoring hope, and expanding career options for hardworking people across New York City.

Did you know?

*  90% of CUNY Students on public assistance move out of poverty permanently after attaining a 4-year college degree.

*  Since 1995, WRI has trained and supported 4,000+ high school and college students to help them know and understand their rights, gain access to vital resources, and focus on making higher education their ticket out of poverty.

*  WRI Alumni are shining examples of what is possible through education.  Many of our former students have beaten the odds and gone on to thriving careers in social services, law, medicine, education and community leadership. Others are busy pursuing graduate degrees. Members of our vibrant alumni network regularly, give back to the program as mentors, volunteers, advisors and staff members so others may learn from their positive journeys.

Through the long, narrow halls of the Legislative Office Building in Albany, New York, team M7 consisting of CUNY ( City University of New York) students Audrey Zapata (team leader), Charlotte Alvarez, Barbara Didick, Isaac Silvera, Sarah Pomar, Miranda Junge and this writer walked into the office of New York State (NYS) Senator Carl L. Marcellino.

Senator Marcellino represents the 5th Senate District (parts of Nassau and Suffolk Counties) and has made tremendous contributions in these South Shore communities. As a firm believer in education, Marcellino has sponsored legislation which “requires that a fixed percentage amount of school district budgets will be dedicated and utilized solely for classroom expenses” (NYSENATE.GOV) additionally, the Senator acted to amend NYS education law to ensure that in the 21st century, young Americans will receive a first class education to be well-equipped for a first class economic future.

Our group was thus encouraged that Senator Marclellino would work for the  passage of  bill S2323 which would amend the Social Services Law (SSL) to allow for four-year degree programs to count toward an individual’s public assistance 35 hour weekly employment requirement and at no cost to the state.

This writer along with her teammates was disappointed to hear that the 2:30 P.M. appointment with Marcellino was not in the schedule for March 7th. The next best thing that could be done was to leave a packet of information about the S2323 bill that we seek passes not only the assembly but the senate. Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) an Hunter College CUNY leadership training organization, has unanimous support from the assembly but needs to gain further support from the senate to ensure the successful passage of this bill.

Marcellino, a Brooklyn-born, New York resident, attended public schools in Queens, attained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Science (MA) degrees at New York University (NYU) and Professional Diploma in Administration and Supervision from St. John’s University (NYSENATE.GOV). From being a science teacher for 20 years to an administrator in the New York City School system, Marcellino knows the importance of acquiring an education in New York City and the opportunities that arise from receiving a post-secondary education.

Just as luck would have it, team M7 ran into Senator Marcellino on their way to the elevators to the Legislative Office Building. Marcellino, over six feet tall, walked over to M7 with a graceful but hesitant gait dressed in a suit with his glasses firmly in place. This writer introduced herself as a member of WRI, a grassroots organization that is committed to the goal of equal access to education for all. The brief one minute encounter took place in a tightly-crowded elevator that left no elbow room for an individual. Despite the murmurs in the background, this writer was dedicated to her cause of informing the senator about the bill S2323. Marcellino told this writer that he is not familiar with the bill and thus began the 30 second breakdown of the bill’s purpose. The flow of the conversation coincided with the speed of the cables that held the elevator in place. “The passage of this bill would allow four-year degree programs to count toward the federal welfare work participation rate of NYS” said this writer as the ding indicated the arrival to the second floor. “On a federal level, four-year degree programs and two-year degree programs have been approved, but on a state level, only two-year programs count,” said this writer as another ding was heard.  It was brought to Marcellino’s attention that a multitude of his constituents attend Nassau Community College (NCC), a two-year college.  There are NCC students who receive public assistance and want to attain more than just an Associate’s degree because higher education for them is a route out of poverty. The federal law only allows welfare recipients to receive 12 months of education and training; therefore it is imperative that this bill get passed to expand the choices of programs that they can pursue.

The last ding heard indicated that the dialogue between Marcellino and this writer was over. The final words said by this writer were “Will you advocate this bill?” The senator responded “I need to know what the bill is about.” The one minute debrief on S2323 in a crowded elevator may not have convinced Marcellino to advocate the bill, but with the information packet and follow-ups that have been directed has most certainly educated him. Not only was the Senator an educator for two decades but his wife, Patricia Marcellino, is currently a Ed.D, an Associate Professor in the Adelphi University School of Education also believes in empowering the youth of New York.  It is proven that students, who receive their BA degrees in New York, end up staying in the state and contribute to the work force. Statistics show that almost 90% of women receiving welfare move out of poverty when obtaining a college degree.  Most people receiving welfare are women and children, the vast majority children.  After a family is stabilized from the crisis that brought them to welfare, it makes good policy sense to allow access to education including 4 year college.  Education is a right, not a privilege and the passage of this bill would have a positive fiscal impact in New York State.  Families receiving public assistance nurture the leaders of tomorrow.

 
This weekend WRI will be featured on the Bill Ayres “Community Connection” Show on WPLJ 95.5 FM. The show will air 1:30 AM, Monday, February 13, 2012. The show will challenge stereotypes and highlight WRI’s solutions and call to action. Please share with others and tune in!

 
Bill Ayres is a talk radio host and Executive Director and co-founder of World Hunger Year (WHY). He began hosting and producing his weekly radio talk show on New York radio station WPLJ 95.5 FM in 1973.

http://www.wplj.com/showdj.asp?DJID=4086

In keeping with the season, we cordially invite you to attend WRI’s

Spoken Word Pot Luck Holiday Supper.

What: WRI Holiday Spoken Word Pot Luck Supper

When: Friday, December 16, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.

Where: Hunter College Faculty Lounge HW 8th floor

WHY: To share with each other the joy of our creative expressions.

We are gathering to celebrate our collective creativity and what inspires us. Please bring your creation or inspiration of poetry, essay, song or other spoken word to share.
We are encouraging all to attend and bring food, beverage, or sucky candy.

We look forward to seeing you at 7pm the evening of December 16th.

A Dangerous Intersection

Public policies and public shared values can intersect at unforeseen points.  Too often, these intersections can be negative consequences for all of us.  One collision between policy and public value is welfare regulations and education.

For example, the organization of which I am a part, Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI), sees too many young adult students (often fresh out of high school) told that they cannot attend college because they reside in households receiving welfare. Most of these students are dependents on their parent’s budget, have aged out of foster care, or are on their own for other reasons.

At welfare centers, students are told that work first is NYC’s welfare policy.  This policy is based on the assumption that work and education are conflicting values.  My experiences over the past 17 years with WRI students have only made clear that the two should not be mutually exclusive.  In fact, it’s because our students value work that they’re determined to stay in school and obtain necessary skills and credentials, which would prepare them for paid employment and reduce their dependence on welfare.  NYC’s work first model prioritizes “dead-end” Work Experience Program (WEP) assignments, or “job search” that mostly equates to spending the entire work day in a room with other unemployed peers waiting for a computer. These welfare recipients, instead of opportunities for education, are given training on how to set alarm clocks and “show up” to non-existent jobs.

Our students, who based on existing potential are accepted into Hunter, Baruch, and other 4-year colleges, are forced not to attend because NYC’s welfare policy won’t approve 4-year colleges as a qualifying activity. These students are told they must do job search or WEP.

I am thinking any graduating high schooler who is accepted into Hunter or Baruch ought to have the whole city encouraging them to attend.

Those unaware of the pitfalls of the welfare system insist, of course, that “Work First” is a good policy.  NYS Human Resources Commissioner Robert Doar believes “people should work for any benefit they receive”; others persist that those who need welfare really need some training in dignity and not education.  Many do not question the real reason why welfare roles are down 70%, and believe that this must be a good thing for taxpayers. All this blinds the public to realities – that welfare numbers are down because policies are intolerant. That ordinary people are often caught in extraordinary conditions. That moving permanently out of poverty contributes to increases in economic security for all families and taxpayers.

Recent studies show that attaining college degrees virtually guarantee movement from welfare and out of poverty.  CUNY studies showed that almost 90% of women receiving welfare who attained a college degree moved permanently out of poverty. The US Department of Labor shows that higher levels of education increase earnings: bachelor’s degree recipients earn $1,012 a week from employment, compared to high school or GED graduates at $618 a week.  That is a difference of $394 per week, or $20,488 a year.  In addition, college graduates get jobs that last.

According to January 2010 figures, the rate of unemployment during this current economic downturn was highest for people without a college degree: an education level less than high school held a whopping 15.2% unemployment rate; compared to the 4.9% unemployment rate of bachelor’s degree or higher.

Despite these facts, current city and state welfare policy has driven over 20,000 students receiving public assistance away from CUNY. It appears that welfare reform paradoxically closed the door on the best-known route out of poverty–access to education from GED to college.

NYC’s welfare policy, one that de-values access to education across the spectrum, currently dangerously intersects with New York State’s future. Our harsh economic times insist we cannot afford to be passive bystanders while this collision takes place. The New York State constitution demands that we provide for the poor, and the work first program claims its priority is to help people receiving welfare move to employment. How is blocking access to higher education helping either of these missions?

Here’s what can be done right now in NYC and NYS:

• Change NYC’s current 35/40 hour work requirements to 20/30 hours. Federal and state laws require no more than 20 hours of work activity for families with children under the age of 6, and 30 hours for all others.
• Count Homework assignments in higher education and other programs towards the work requirement.  Federal law allows it.  Other states count homework and report great outcomes.
• Fully implement the Work-study/internship law.
• Support the NYS legislature to pass S2323/A2471 which broadens access to education from ABE through to college and counts 4-year college as participation requirement conforming to current federal regulations.

Signed and authored by:

• There will be a screening of “Malcolm X”, the documentary.  It will be held on Wednesday, November 9th, from 1-3PM, in TH 111.
• There will be a Hunger Banquet, held by NYPIRG and Oxfam.  The banquet will be an exercise and visual representation of food security in the modern world.  It will be held on Thursday, November 10th, at 6PM in the Hunter West Lobby.

Also, note that V-DAY is also holding tryouts for the Vagina Monologue in the upcoming weeks.  Stay tuned for more information.

What: WRI’s  Professional Mixer

When: Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 7:30-8:30PM

Where: Hunter College, Faculty Lounge (803 West Building)

Why: In these challenging times, we feel it will be helpful for students and alumni to look inward, towards each other, to find new opportunities and ways to grow, both personally and professionally.  Alumni and students will be reflecting, sharing resources, and speaking about their work in and outside of WRI.