THE
WORKFARE MEDIA INITIATIVE (WMI), created in November 2001,
trains community organizers who are current and former welfare recipients
to use the film, A DAY’S WORK,
A DAY’S PAY in their organizing work. Consisting
of twelve two-hour sessions in topics such as group facilitation,
media literacy, welfare history, political analysis and conflict
resolution, our trainings build low-income activists' leadership
skills and strengthen their advocacy efforts.
The Initiative then schedules community screenings and discussions
throughout New York City facilitated by the trained media
organizers. Here, the media organizers:
- Lead
discussions in which audiences share theemotional reactions and
thoughts that the movie raised
-
Question stereotypes of poor people and welfare
-
Educate audiences about the realities of New YorkCity’s
workfare program,The Work Experience Program (WEP) and use this
totalk big picture about welfare-to work programs across the country
-
Provide a community forum for dialogue about welfareand poverty
in New York City and nationally; and
-
Inspire audiences to take action around current welfare policies
at the local,state, and federal levels, especially Congress’
reauthorization of Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF)
-
WMI Media Organizers
lead screenings and discussions of A
DAY’S WORK, A DAY’S PAY with numerous
audiences including youth, university students, welfare rights
and other community based organizations, unions, communities of
faith, policymakers, and others.
To schedule a screening in your community, please contact Kathy
Leichter at: 212-280-3444 or Kathy@mintleafproductions.com
About
the Media Organizers
Linda
Iannacone is an artist, video producer, activist and educator.
She has taught video production, media literacy and visual arts
to adults and youth through MNN, Educational Video Center, DCTV,
Paper Tiger TV, Henry Street Settlement House and international
programs in Vienna and Berlin. Linda has worked for over ten years
with Paper Tiger TV, a volunteer collective which produces video
for social change and has been a founding player of the Indymedia
Center movement. She has produced many programs including "Drawing
the Line at Pittston" covering an 11 month coal miners strike,
"Staking a Claim in Cyberspace" a look at the changing
information technologies and access to media, and "Rock Paper,
Missiles" a critique of the U.S. role in supporting the Israeli
occupation of Palestine. "I believe in holistic activism, that
our work is a constant evolution of ourselves and the people and
world around us; employing art, music, voice, and action toward
a greater understanding, respect and social justice."
Yvonne
Shields
is a Board member and member of Community Voices Heard and a welfare
recipient. She was the former coordinator of the largest, private,
not-for-profit child and adult care food program for certified providers.
She has fought for the rights of poor people all her life. Working
in early
child care for over twenty-five years, she has changed her career
path to working in the field of culinary arts.
Leslie
Monroy is a Latina welfare recipient, mother of three,
board member of Make The Road by Walking, and serves on the Planning
Committee of The New York Women's Foundation. She has been an effective
and crucial leader in the fight for just and effective welfare reform,
working primarily on the campaign to provide translation in welfare
offices.
Diomaris
Rosario As a former welfare recipient, Diomaris felt that
the system made to "help" you was really a system that
was made to keep you down. Therefore, at twenty, she became an activist/community
organizer for two excellent organizations: Community Voices Heard
and Picture the Homeless. She is currently spending more time at
home with her husband, two year old daughter and eight year old
son but working part-time and still very much involved in the struggle/movement.
Sandra
White became an activist in 1995 after losing her job at
a bank. She had a horrific experience while being on welfare and
because of it helped start an organization called WEP WORKERS TOGETHER
which is now called FUREE (FAMILIES UNITED FOR RACIAL AND ECONOMIC
EQUALITY), which helps families learn about their rights as welfare
recipients.
Maribel
Pena is a member of Community Voices Heard (CVH) and a
former welfare recipient. Currently Maribel is working for the Parks
Department as a City Seasonal Aide. She has worked as a peer educator
teaching about STD’s and HIV prevention to homeless women
and men in the shelter system. As a CVH leader, Maribel attended
the World Social Forum in Puerto Allegre, Brazil in 2002, where
she built relationships with low-income activists in Brazil with
whom she is still in contact. Her recent organizing efforts include
being a facilitator for The Workfare Media Initiative, raising money
for English classes for her Brazilian activist sisters and brothers
and public speaking with CVH for transitional jobs for low-income
people. She is a single mother of two boys.
Cliff
Mosley is a former welfare recipient who is currently Co-Chair
of the Board of Directors for the New York City Aids Housing Network.
Cliff set up the first on-site computer program for public housing
in New York State. He also set-up the first work-release site for
inmates at Attica, NY. Cliff was a columnist for The Poughkeepsie
Journal. He has a Master’s and a B.A. from Marist College.
Cliff is also a singer/songwriter and is in the process of cutting
his first CD.
The
Workfare Media Initiative is funded by The MacArthur Foundation,
The Public Welfare Foundation, The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent
Media, The Sonya Staff Foundation, The Samuel Rubin Foundation,
The North Star Fund, The Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, The Gaea Foundation,
The Brooklyn Arts Council, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,
The A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, and many generous individuals.
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