INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS GATHERING AT UO FEB. 28—29 TO EXAMINE WORK, WELFARE, POVERTY, POLITICS
February 8, 2000
Contact Maureen Shine (541) 346-3145
Source: Sandra Morgen, director, UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, (541) 346-5015
EUGENE–How has welfare reform changed the lives of poor Oregonians? What holds the safety net together in this state and around the nation?
These types of questions as well as the relationship between welfare, poverty, low-wage labor and politics will be explored in a two-day conference at the University of Oregon, Feb. 28—29.
"Work, Welfare and Politics" is a national conference that is bringing together researchers, advocates, policy makers, practitioners and community members to examine the wisdom, impact and political context of welfare reform. Related labor, tax and economic policies across lines of gender, class and race also will be explored.
Frances Fox Piven, one of the foremost authorities on poverty and politics in the United States, will give the keynote address at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 29, in the Ballroom of the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave. Piven is this year’s occupant of the UO’s Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics.
Sponsored by the UO’s Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) and the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC), the conference is assembling presenters from 25 states, Washington, D.C., and Germany. They will participate in more than two dozen panels and plenary sessions on a variety of issues related to welfare, work and poverty.
Conference sessions are free, but registration–online or by postal mail–is requested by
Feb. 23.
"The dialogue will help change the nature of welfare debates," says Sandra Morgen, CSWS director. "We know that people are moving off of welfare to work. But we also need to look seriously at the kinds of jobs they’re getting, whether these jobs will allow them to escape poverty, and the continuing need for safety net programs for poor families."
Morgen says another potential outcome of the conference will be to build support for policies that can better help low-income people.
"The welfare agency isn’t the only social institution with responsibility to the poor," says Morgen. "Universities, researchers and members of the business community all have a responsibility to people on the bottom of the economic scale."
The conference schedule includes:
Monday, Feb. 28
8:30—10:30 a.m. Opening Plenary Session: "Welfare and Poverty in Oregon." Ballroom,
Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave.
Participants include Sandie Hoback, Oregon Adult and Family Services Division, Salem; Lorey Freeman, Oregon Law Center, Portland; Joan Acker and Sandra Morgen, CSWS; and state Rep. Jo Ann Bowman, District 19, Portland.
7 p.m. Plenary Session: "The New Welfare Policies and Poverty in the U.S."
Ballroom, Erb Memorial Union.
Participants include Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philadelphia, Pa.; Adolph Reed, political science professor, New School for Social Research, New York; and Frances Fox Piven, author, social commentator and professor of political science and sociology at the City University of New York.
Tuesday, Feb. 29
8:30—10 a.m. Plenary Session: "Working Out of Poverty?" Ballroom, Erb Memorial
Union.
Participants include Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.; Randy Albelda, author and economics professor, University of Massachusetts; and Carol Stack, author and professor of social and economic studies in education, University of California, Berkeley.
1—2:15 p.m. Keynote Address: "The Rich, the Poor and American Politics," Ballroom,
Erb Memorial Union.
Delivered by Frances Fox Piven, 1999—2000 occupant of the UO’s Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics.
4:15—5 p.m. Closing Plenary Session: "Looking Ahead: Research and Policy Agendas
for Welfare and Poverty." Ballroom, Erb Memorial Union.
Participants include state Sen. Susan Castillo, District 20, Eugene; Margaret Hallock and Gordon Lafer, LERC; and Sandra Morgen, CSWS.
The Work, Welfare and Politics conference is made possible through a grant from the Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics.
To register or receive more information about the conference and its full schedule of panel discussions, contact the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society, (541) 346-5015; send e-mail to confcsws@oregon.uoregon.edu; or visit the conference website at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~confcsws.
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