Kensington Welfare Rights Union
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The Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KRWU) is a progressive social justice, political action, and advocacy group of, by, and for the poor and homeless operating out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] The group was founded by six women, Alexis Baptist, Sandy Brennan, Diane Coyett, Cheri Honkala, Louis Mayberry, and Debra Witzman, and formed in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood in April 1991.[2]
KWRU is a part of the national organization the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a coalition of grassroots organizations, community groups, and non-profit organizations committed to uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty.[1] KWRU is also a member of the steering committee of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition.[3]
KWRU was written about in the 1997 book Myth of the Welfare Queen by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Zucchino.[4]
Group activities
KWRU often used direct action tactics such as
References
- ^ OCLC 76864302.
- OCLC 861966476.
- OCLC 406133470.
- ^ Lippmann, Laura (13 April 1997). "Welfare mythology: buried charlatan [review of Myth of the Welfare Queen by David Zucchino]". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
- OCLC 988276950.
- ^ Maryniak, Paul (24 September 1994). "Homeless families evicted: squatters booted from HUD houses". Philadelphia Daily News. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
Further reading
- Mazelis, Joan Maya (2017). Surviving poverty: creating sustainable ties among the poor. New York: OCLC 946161360. A sociological study of KWRU.
- Zoelle, Diana; Josephson, Jyl J. (2005). "Making democratic space for poor people: the Kensington Welfare Rights Union". In Leatherman, Janie; Webber, Julie A. (eds.). Charting transnational democracy: beyond global arrogance. Houndmills, UK; New York: OCLC 57311708.
- Zucchino, David (1997). Myth of the welfare queen: a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist's portrait of women on the line. New York: OCLC 36446930.