KWRU: Frequently Asked Questions What is the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU)? What is Kensington? What are KWRU's goals? What are KWRU's activities? What has KWRU done in the past? What is KWRU's organizing model? What is the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU)? The Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) is a multi-racial organization of, by and for poor and homeless people. We believe that we have a right to thrive - not just barely survive. KWRU is dedicated to organizing of welfare recipients, the homeless, the working poor and all people concerned with economic justice. Although we are a statewide organization, KWRU is mainly based in Kensington, a neighborhood in North Philadelphia. Once a center for manufacturing, Kensington is now the poorest district in the state of Pennsylvania. KWRU was started by a group of poor women in April 1991. We came together out of necessity - our communities and the survival of our families were threatened by Govenor Casey's welfare cuts. Back to top What is Kensington? Kensington, a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, is the poorest district in the state of Pennsylvania. You can take a virutal tour of Kensington to learn more about it's history and present reality. Back to top
What are KWRU's goals? We came together to do three basic things: 1. Speak to the issues which directly affect our lives: poor people have been excluded from debates, such as welfare reform, which have huge impact on our families. We are committed to tell the stories of what is really happening in our lives and in poor communities across the country. We have testified at local, state and national hearings; we have spoken at welfare offices, college campuses, religious congregations, union halls, social service agencies, and anywhere we have had the chance. Our director, Cheri Honkala, was the only welfare recipient to speak during the Congressional welfare reform hearings. Recently a photo-exhibit by photographer Harvey Finkle, the book Myth of the Welfare Queen by David Zucchino and a documentary, Poverty Outlaw, by Skylight Pictures have helped us get our stories out to more and more people. 2. Help each other, and all poor people get what we need to survive: We are committed to seeing that all people have the basic necessities of life - food, clothing, utilities, medical care and housing. We have assisted over 500 families in obtaining housing and utilities. We have set up tent cities when the shelter system was full and we have established "Human Rights Houses" as bases for emergency housing, free food and clothing distribution, and free medical clinics. We assist poor and homeless families with whatever problems they are having - all that we ask in return is that they join the KWRU to help others and to build a movement to end poverty. 3. Organize a broad-based movement to end poverty: We know that there is enough to go around in this, the richest country in the world. We believe that the American people are a just and loving people and that we can build a movement, led by poor people, to end poverty once and for all. We struggle everyday to teach and organize poor people, and all those concerned with economic justice, to create fundamental social change. KWRU is an organization of, by and for poor people; however we work closely with the several groups: KWRU is an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Workers, AFSCME, AFL-CIO - this reflects the need for unity between the employed and the unemployed around issues such as workfare, downsizing, etc. KWRU has joined the Labor Party, a new political party which is based in the interests of working and unemployed people. (We believe that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are interested in meeting the needs of the poor -- and we believe it is time for a new political party in this country.) KWRU is a chapter of the National Welfare Rights Union. We also have growing relationships with students, the women's movement, lawyers, social workers, artists & musicians and a variety of community organizations. Our focus is in Kensington, but we know that this must be a national, and even international, movement. Today, through the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, KWRU continues to teach, fight, and struggle to build a movement to end poverty, led by the poor. Back to top
What are KWRU's Activities? On a daily basis, we are working to meet people's immediate needs and organize to build a movement to end poverty. You can read an account of a week in the life of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. Back to top What has KWRU Done in the Past? Throughout its history, KWRU has constantly been in motion, meeting the basic needs of its members by any means necessary and pressing for political and social change on all fronts. Tent cities, housing takeovers, and free food distribution are just a few of the facets of this fight. In everything we do, as we struggle to meet our basic needs we are also fighting to build a movement to end poverty in this country. In 1995, KWRU established a tent city in an abandoned lot (where a factory once stood) to meet the urgent needs of families turned away from the shelter system. After a summer and fall of constant protest, educational activities, and struggle with Philadelphia authorities, we took over the abandoned St. Edward's church to house the 40 families. This campaign is documented in the book The Myth of the Welfare Queen by David Zucchino. In 1996, KWRU lead the first March for Our Lives, 140 miles from Philadelphia to our state capitol, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The governor's decision to cut 250,000 people off of access to medical care sparked this march. Once we reached Harrisburg, a campaign ensued which included taking over the capitol rotunda itself, then establishing a tent city on the steps of the state capitol. In 1997, KWRU lead a second March for Our Lives, from the Liberty Bell to the United Nations in New York City. (Read the press release.) This march protested the human rights violations caused by welfare reform. From June 21st to July 1st, hundreds of KWRU members and their supporters marched the 125 miles. This march was the beginning of the Economic Human Rights Campaign. In June of 1998, KWRU spearheaded the new Freedom Bus Tour: Freedom from Unemployment, Hunger, and Homelessness. The bus travelled to over 30 cities across the country, linking up with grassroots organizations of poor and homeless people fighting for their lives. At each stop, the bus gathered documentation of economic human rights violations, which were taken to a concluding tribunal at the United Nations. The documentation will be used in a formal suit against the United States through international legal channels. In the summer of 1999, KWRU led a series of housing takeovers and tent cities to address the continually growing crisis of affordable housing and poverty in Philadelphia. After being charged with multiple felonies for attempting to move into and rehab abandoned houses, and after being thrown off of Independence Mall by the Liberty Bell, we set up "Clintonville," a tent city where families and children lived until they were finally able to win affordable housing. In October of 1999, KWRU spearheaded the March of the Americas. With other organizations of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and allies from across the Americas, we marched from Washington DC to the United Nations. Throughout all this, our day-to-day work in Philadephia has continued in earnest. We have established several Human Rights Houses, bases of organizing and education in our community. The houses, in addition to providing living space for several families, are a center for distributing food, clothing, etc. - If people in the community need help in meeting their basic needs, they know they can come to the house and we will struggle with them to meet those needs - by any means needed. We have also established a Human Rights Center, which serves as our office, a center for our literacy & leadership classes, political education, membership meetings, welfare advocacy, and much more. Through all these means, we are doing everything we can to prepare for the moment when the five-year time limit for families on welfare ticks down to nothing - we are expecting tens of thousands of families to be left with no reliable source of income, a serious crisis. Back to top What is KWRU's Organizing Model? Willie Baptist, education director of the KWRU, summarizes our organizing model in On the Poor Organizing the Poor: The Experience of Kensington. Back to top