Advocacy Resources

Support our work with a
tax deductable donation:
LINC is a project of
the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.

Ohio Welfare Rights Organization, Columbus Ohio

The Ohio Welfare Rights Organization recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. It was founded in 1966 as the Welfare Rights Organization when a small group of welfare recipients came together for a "walk" from Columbus, Ohio to Cleveland, Ohio to demand that all persons in need of assistance have their basic needs met, and that their dignity be upheld. After the "walk," the several chapters of the group formed, and it eventually became the Ohio Welfare Rights Organization (OWRO).

Since its inception, OWRO has been fighting for the rights of the poor, and its members are continuing that battle in these difficult times. Their main goals are to achieve dignity, justice, democracy, and adequate income for all poor people. They advocate for a system which guarantees the less fortunate the same freedoms, rights and respect as all Americans; for a system which guarantees the recipients the full protection of the constitution; for a system which guarantees recipients direct participation in the decisions by which they must live; and for a system which guarantees all poor persons an adequate grant to live above poverty level.

OWRO achieves these goals through legislative advocacy, demonstrations and grassroots organizing. They also have a speakers' bureau which informs church groups and other associations about the rights of welfare recipients and the effect that local, state, and national welfare policies will have on those recipients.

Earlier this year OWRO and the Welfare Law Center submitted comments to the state welfare agency urging improvements in the state's "self-sufficiency contracts" for AFDC requests.

OWRO hopes that all will unite and join together to demand decent jobs with fair wages for all people who are able to work, and an adequate income for all poor people who are unable to work.

Prepared by Nicole Brown, a law student intern.

-- from the November 1996 issue of Welfare News