POWER Outage

Semi annual meetings where we build our skills, learn something new or just have fun. 

Everyone welcome!

Keep an eye out for upcoming POWER Outages

in POWER News & our Facebook page.

Weekly Advocacy Office Hours

    Thursdays 4 – 6 pm

Other times by appointment.

Alchemilla Small Business Grants

Attn: Low Income Business OwnersThis is a Free Grant

Its easy to fill out!

10 winners will be chosen by the applicants themselves and by Alchemilla members!

Get your form filled out and sent in by October 15, 2021https://forms.gle/sKA36ckb6VXUo2rP6

Original 1968 Poor People’s Campaign Brochure

Poor people do not get decent jobs, decent income, decent housing, decent schools, decent healthcare, decent government, decent police. Poor people do not even get respect as human beings. -PPC brochure

1968 Poor People’s Campaign Brochure

A new year in POWER and solidarity

Dear POWER Supporter,

We hope you will join us as we march to Washington’s state capitol on Monday, January 21st, MLK Day, to impress on our state legislators the need for laws which alleviate our community’s suffering from poverty, unjust immigration enforcement, homelessness, lack of access to nutritious food and inequality. We will be holding a candlelight vigil on the capitol steps.

As we enter a new year, with those who rely on governmental checks living in fear of losing everything, we will continue POWER’s important work of building a community that raises awareness and supports one another to advocate for our rights. We hope you are able to make a donation of time or money to support our work.

In 2018 we continued to provide information to members through our advocacy hotline, fueling our frustrations with a system that provides families with benefits that are 30% of the federal poverty level while finding the funds to pursue a fraud case against a single mother of 5. We provided welfare witnesses to a family with a CPS home visit, a mama with an intimidating landlord and a pregnant woman with a doctor she felt looked down on her because she was low income and disabled. We supported a mother who is not only taking care of her own children, but their CPS placed siblings, who was denied benefits for those children! She won her hearing and the subsequent appeal by DSHS.

We held our monthly POWER Outage with skill shares on crafting, gardening, labor history and telling our stories. We had speakers from the Missing Middle, Thurston Housing Land Trust and the Washington Anti Hunger and Nutrition Coalition. We held our annual Mama Care Fair in May, our cook out in August and our Voter Roundtable in November.

Alchemilla, our Feminist Economic Collaborative, continues to maintain a co-share office space and art gallery at POWER, created fun spring and fall Arts Walk events and a Winter Bazaar, while holding a weekly pop up market over the summer and fall. Alchemilla partnered again with Helsing Junction Farm to provide affordable CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) fruit and vegetable boxes which could be purchased with food benefits through their cooperation with the Farm Fresh Food for Healthy Kids study.

POWER continues to be a great place for volunteers to build skills and connect with community. Long-time POWER volunteer and Alchemilla member, Laura Downing continues to grow in her professional development and social justice values. “I don’t know where I would be without POWER. They have given me so many opportunities to learn how to wear different hats. I’ve done everything from organizing projects, to advocacy, to sitting on the Board. I’ve made many dear friends and developed the confidence to go back to college. I will never forget the kindness of this organization and will always be a POWER member, standing unwaveringly in solidarity with their cause. I can’t think of a more worthy organization to donate to. We contribute so much to the social and financial development of individuals in our community. ”

Sincerely,

POWER’s Board of Directors

Monica Peabody

Jen Witherspoon

Mischa Gilrean

Laura Studebaker

Cat Sullivan

Bunny Boid

Mary Vent

POWER News!

POWER is having a busy December.

We’d love to have you join us!

December POWER Outage

Craft Gathering!

Monday, December 3rd

3:30 PM – 6 PM

At POWER

Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights

  • 309 5th Ave SE, Olympia, Washington 98501

Start the season off right! Join us TODAY at 3:30 and make some crafts. Bring snacks if you can!

POWER Board Elections

Thursday, December 6th

5-7 pm

Join us at our regular Board meeting to welcome new candidates and vote for POWER’s 2019 Board.

Bring food to share if you can.

Let us know if you are an active member and interested in running for the Board:

360-352-9716

info

www.mamapower.org

MLK Day March Planning Meeting

Monday, December 10th

6:30-8:30

Every year POWER organizes a community march to the Capitol on MLK Day. Join us to help make this year’s march fantastic!


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POWER News!

November POWER Outage is as always the Voter Roundtable!

  • Monday, November 5

  • Potluck 5:30

  • Bring something to share if you are able.

  • Discussion from 6 – 8.
  • Share what you know about candidates and issues. Learn from your neighbors. Bring your ballots. We’ll provide stamps. Bring the kids, we’ll have childcare.
  • Questions? Contact POWER at 360-352-9716
  • info
  • www.mamapower.org

Like us on Facebook.
POWER is an organization of low-income parents and allies advocating for a strong social safety net while working toward a world where children and caregiving are truly valued, and the devastation of poverty has been eradicated.
If you live closer to Seattle:

WA Poor People’s Campaign Ballot Party

· Hosted by Washington Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

Saturday at 2 PM – 5 PM

Come out for food, fun, and fellowship with the WA Poor People’s Campaign. We will come together and learn about the issues facing our communities and the candidates that are up for election. Please feel free to bring your ballots and fill them out there if you wish. This is a non-partisan gathering. You are welcome to bring a dish to celebrate this important time in our history.
Below:
1. Message from the Children’s Alliance – Vote for Kids!
2. Glen Morgan plays dirty politics in this election and in past.
3. Call to action – Submit a public comment opposing Trump’s immigration policies.
4 and 5. Spend Saturday in downtown Olympia – 2 great events – Olympia Food Co-op Annual Meeting and Stonewall Youth Dance Party.
6. Article – Winter Is Coming, and Fuel Costs Will Hit the Poor the Hardest

  1. Ballots for the 2018 midterm elections have arrived and voting is happening now.

The decisions that Washington state voters make this election will have lasting consequences for our kids. There are four statewide ballot measures that are critical for kids (gun safety, climate justice, local public health funding, and law enforcement training).

After the election, no matter the outcome, Children’s Alliance will be here to serve the mission that has guided us since 1983, demanding that Washington policymakers put public policy on the side of kids!
Thank you for speaking up for kids and families.
Sincerely,
Jon
Jon Gould
Deputy Director
P.S. Election Day is November 6th.
Get the Voter’s Guide: http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/.

Join us for POWER Outage October 1!

Thurston Asset Building Coalition Community Impact Network will be leading a community conversation on storytelling.

How can we continue to engage our voices and bring needed change to our lives and communities? How can we use the strength of those voices and stories to create a better life? These are just some of the questions that we would like to answer together.

“Stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize.”

5:30-8 PM, bring a potluck dish if you can!

 

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