History

March 3, 1998 – Organized the “Poor People’s Summit.” Dr. Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Temple University, and Ms. Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union addressed an audience of 85 people in the Downtown United Presbyterian Church to speak about welfare reform at a Poor People’s Summit.

Rally and dinner to greet the “New” Freedom Bus on June 3, 1998 at the Freddie Thomas Center, (the Kensington Welfare Rights Union selected Rochester as a stop on their national month-long Freedom Bus tour for the Economic Human Rights Campaign). This was covered in City Newspaper, June 17-23 edition. (This stop in Rochester was also selected to be part of the video documentary “Outriders,” produced by award-winning filmmakers Pamela Yates and Peter Kinoy, Skylight Productions, 1999).

SWAA members co-presented a workshop, “Building Bridges to the Poor People’s Movement,” at a conference, Daring to Struggle Together, Let’s Talk, Let’s Act, sponsored by the Bertha Capen Reynolds Society, Houston, Texas, June 26-28th. This was co-presented with Dr. Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Temple University, Cheri Honkala and Willie Baptist, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and four Rochester SWAA members.

October 10-11, 1998 – With the help of a fundraiser by SUNY Brockport’s Student Social Work Organization (SSWO), SWAA sent seven local poor people to the Poor People’s Summit, Philadelphia, PA.

Local SWAA member went to the March of the Americas, organized by KWRU in October, 1999. They went to the New York City area with three poor people from the Rochester area.

SWAA, with the Rochester Poor People’s Coalition, organized a march in Mid-April 1999, which ended in a rally at the Genesee Settlement House with a free dinner for the poor.

Working with the Brockport SSWO, SWAA helped to raise funds to send four local poor people, and three students to travel to the World Summit to End Poverty, held in New York City (November 16-19, 1999) and sponsored by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

SWAA collaborated with the SSWO, the Social Work Department at Nazareth College, and local labor unions to bring a speaking tour to SUNY Brockport on November 20, 2000, called “Poverty Without Borders.” This presentation focused on the connections between sweatshop workers and poor people both nationally and internationally. Speakers were representatives from Thailand’s sweatshop worker’s movement and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. This workshop was repeated that same evening at Laborer’s Hall in the City of Rochester.

March 5, 2001 – Co-sponsored: “Beyond Band-Aids: Advocating for Change,” an all-day conference on March 5, 2001 in Seymour Union at SUNY Brockport. This conference featured three out of town speakers and a panel of local poor people and their advocates. It was attended by approximately 100 students, faculty and community members. Later that same evening, the Rochester Social Welfare Action Alliance chapter and Brockport students organized a workshop with Willy Baptist and Diane Dujon, held at the Baden Street Settlement House in Rochester (viewing of “Battle for Broad”). This was attended by approximately 40 members of the Rochester community, despite a heavy snowstorm!

March 27th, 2001 – Co-organized a speak-out on welfare reform with the Rochester Poor People’s Coalition at a downtown church – attended by approximately 80 poor people. Local poor people told their stories about the harm they have experienced under welfare reform, and Bryan Hetherington, Director of the Public Interest Law Office, summarized the stories and talked about the “big picture” and how we can organize and network to protest these “economic human rights violations.” SUNY Brockport Social Work students and Social Welfare Action Alliance members leafleted poor neighborhoods several times before this event.

Fall, 2001 – SWAA presents the Reality Tour – co-sponsored by EMPOWER welfare rights, Social Welfare Action Alliance, and the Rochester Poor People’s Coalition. These tours have been ongoing since then, with additional sponsors being: Poor People United, Federation of Social Workers (County workers), Genesee Valley Chapter of National Association of Social Workers, and Rochester Chapter of the National Organization for Women. The tours educate riders about poverty in the Rochester area; they included taking people to abandoned houses, the offices of the Department of Social Services, the County jail, a homeless shelter, and the abandoned subway (where many local homeless people live).

October, 2002 – Speak-out on poverty and welfare reform at Baden Street Settlement House.

June, 2002 – “Building Alliances: A Vision for Ending Poverty” was organized by Social Welfare Action Alliance, the Rochester Poor People’s Coalition, EMPOWER Welfare Rights, Human Service Workers United, and a steering committee that included Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW Students. This was held at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church and 200 people attended. Keynote speaker was Frances Fox Piven. Other speakers included Willie Baptist from the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and Diane Dujon, Boston are welfare rights activist.

Co-organized (with SUNY Brockport SSWO) a dinner for the 45 New Freedom Bus Riders (organized by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign) when they stopped in Rochester in December 2002 during their national tour to collect human rights violations as a result of welfare and poverty.

Participated in rallies outside of the Monroe County Office Building to protest the severe budget cuts to human services during the fall of 2002.

April 15-16, 2004 – Sponsored “Ending Poverty Now”- a workshop given by Dr. Mary Bricker-Jenkins from Temple University’s School of Social Work and Mr. Willie Baptist, Education Director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

October, 2004 – SWAA participated in voter education/registration campaigns targeted at subsidized housing projects in several districts of Monroe County as well as local human service workers. Developed our own voter education literature.

March 30, 2005 – Co-sponsored: “From the old poorhouse to the new poorhouse,” a talk by David Wagner, professor of social work and sociology, and BSW Chair at the University of Southern Maine.

November, 2005 – Co-sponsored a showing of the video: “Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price” on SUNY Brockport campus and in the city of Rochester.

May, 2007 – Co-sponsored community forum featuring – Willie Baptist, Staff member of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign at Baden Street Settlement in Rochester (100 students and members of the Rochester human service worker community as well as local anti-poverty activists).

For more information on National SWAA – go to SWAA National