WEEL             Page 5

serious trouble for those who are using the poor as whipping posts.
        We all worked very hard at the
summit to distill our long lists of issues and concerns into one or two choices for a regional campaign.  We will then be asking our allies, including labor, other grassroots organizations and policymakers and media representatives throughout the country to join us in this campaign.

The opportunity to make a  difference in welfare repeal policy is better now than it has been since the original  legislation passed in 1996.  Restoration of food stamps to legal immigrants and the Wellstone amendment
indicate that Congress may be willing to backpedal.

WEEL would like to thank our sisters on the planning committee,  which worked to make this event a success: Yvonne Paul, JEDI Women (UT), Jean Colman, WROC (WA),  Gwen Orwiler, FAIR Budget (WA), Gina Cornia, Utah Issues, Lisa Appelrouth and Teresa Benetiz, NEW Project (NV), Jan Gilbert, PLAN (NV),

Western Region Welfare Activists
Summit - Movement Building
in the West
by Toni McOmber
and Yvonne Paul (JEDI Women)

Greetings from the planning committee for the first ever western regional
activists summit.  Following is a synopsis of our regional organizing efforts in Portland this summer and an invitation for you to join us in ongoing regional activism.
        The Western Regional Welfare
Activists' Summit was held in Portland,
Oregon on July 31st through August 1st, 1998.  In our gathering of grassroots welfare rights activists from the western region of the United States, low-income activists,
organizers,  presenters and guests convened for three days of discussion and planning.  The summit represented a first time collaboration of low-income organizers and advocates working to address the realities of welfare repeal for families living in poverty in the west. 
After nearly a year of vigorous
planning and outreach, the regional planning committee successfully gathered
78 participants, 25 grassroots organizations from 11 western states and New York to attend the Summit in Portland.  In addition to regional campaign planning, activists had an opportunity to meet and learn from others in their state and region who are involved in
parallel activities.
        The summit centered on the following three ideas: creating an ongoing regional welfare rights policy/media campaign, providing access to information on the newest technological tools of the computer age, and creating an atmosphere for ongoing activist dialogue and networking.  Our efforts were said to be unique in the country and a golden opportunity for all of us who attended to stir up some