POWER Wins National Award for Social Action
POWER (Portland Organization to Win Economic Rights), a low income social justice group formed last year with the help of the USM Department of Social Work, has won a national award for its activities.
POWER will receive the Michael Harrington Distinguished Social Action Award in Chicago on August 18. The award is named for the prominent scholar and activist Michael Harrington. It is being given to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of Harrington's book "The Other America," which is credited with sparking the "War on Poverty" legislation. POWER was chosen as a group "most exemplifying the spirit of Michael Harrington's commitment to social change." POWER's
co-coordinator Dee Clarke and USM Professor of Social Work David Wagner will accept the award on the local organization's behalf.
Since its establishment in 2001, POWER has been active in numerous initiatives, including campaigning for universal health care, increasing the general assistance welfare benefits in Maine, and leading efforts to demand a rent freeze in Portland.
The award is given by The National Forum on Poverty and Inequality, which includes such groups as the Sociologists for Women in Society, the Journal of Poverty, the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the Loyola University School of Social Work.
The group was formed after the May, 2001 celebration of the Preble Street Resource Center's 25th anniversary. The Portland-based center was founded originally as the High Street Resource Center by USM Social Work Professor Joe Kreisler. Some USM social work faculty and students, along with poor and homeless people, helped organize POWER. The department also provided seed money through the Smith-Catalano Fund, a private endowment used for departmental activities that support social justice work.
For more information, please contact POWER at 772-1200, visit www.poorpower.net
or call USM Professor of Social Work David Wagner at 780-4764.
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