United Workers

On February 27, we attended a community event held by Community Churches United, a close ally and member of the Fair Development Campaign, where, among many things, we are fighting for good union jobs for Baltimore residents (currently city residents make up less than 3% of the workforce on many development projects across the city). The event was held at Simmons Memorial Baptist Church in Baltimore. Pastor Duane Simmons kicked it off with a powerful call to organize from below.

“Now is the time where change has to come from the bottom to the top,” said Pastor Simmons. “And when we get the bottom together, guess what will happen to the top. The top ain’t listening. The top is so capitalistic  and everyone is always so capitalistic minded to see what they can line their pockets with. They don’t care about you. Make them care!”

“We’re gonna make city hall listen. We’re gonna make Annapolis listen. We’re gonna make Washington listen. Right here. This grassroots movement,” said Pastor Simmons. A clip from his speech is below, filmed and edited by the United Workers media team.

The Presbyterian Church USA became the latest to endorse our Fair Development struggle, passing a Fair Development Overture at their 220th General Assembly held in Pittsburgh, PA this past June. An overwhelming majority voted 68% in favor of standing with low-wage workers to demand that developers including Inner Harbor developers, GGP and Cordish ensure that their developments respect human rights, maximize public resources and foster sustainability.

Both United Workers Leadership Organizer, Luis Larin, and movement leader Rev. Roger Powers of Light St. Presbyterian church in Baltimore spoke before the Social Justice Committee before the overture’s successful passage. Rev. Powers explained why Fair Development matters:

The United Workers have now turned their attention to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  If you’ve ever visited Baltimore, you’ve probably seen the Inner Harbor.  It is the major tourist destination in the city, with lots of restaurants and shops to attract visitors.  It’s a nice place to visit, but it’s not such a nice place to work.  The people who work in the restaurants and retail outlets receive poverty wages with no benefits.  They experience poor working conditions and have their rights violated again and again.  (You heard Luis Larin speak about this during the Open Hearing.)  The United Workers Association has been organizing low-wage workers in the Inner Harbor to demand living wages, better working conditions, and respect for human rights.

Developers such as General Growth Properties and the Cordish Company, which control the Inner Harbor, receive large amounts of public money for what are billed as “revitalization” projects for depressed areas.  Yet the jobs created by these projects are unregulated, minimum wage, seasonal, and rife with human rights abuses.

Overture 11-02 asks the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to call for an end to this kind of Poverty Zone Development and to advocate for Fair Development that respects human rights, maximizes public benefits, and fosters sustainability.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a long history of supporting economic justice.  Our church has stood in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, called for reform of corporate misdeeds, proposed living wages, supported economic boycotts, demanded safe working conditions, and supported collective bargaining.

Our own Confession of 1967 says “a church that is indifferent to poverty, or evades responsibility in economic affairs . . . makes a mockery of reconciliation and offers no acceptable worship to God.”

To read the Fair Development Overture go here: at https://www.pc-biz.org/Committee2.aspx.

The successful passage of the Fair Development Overture is just the latest in a growing chorus of faith, community, and labor organizations across the United States to publicly call for justice at the Inner Harbor and more broadly for Fair Development that re-imagines economic development – not as a “race to the bottom” where public resources go to create low-wage work but instead we begin to create spaces where human rights are restored. We have seen our movement grow over the last year as more and more become clear that key to ending poverty is addressing what our development priorities. In February the Presbytery of Baltimore voted to approve our Fair Development Overture sending this on to the Assembly in Pittsburgh. This was followed by our Spring National Day of Action where groups protested at GGP malls across the country including Vermont, New York, Minnesota and Florida culminating in our March to Occupy GGP this past May.

With this great national call for support by the Presbyterian Church USA, United Workers now has bases of support across the nation. We look forward to our future work with the Presbyterian community. This decision is a powerful example of how Christian faith communities continue to grapple with the fundamental teachings of Jesus and their particular denominations and traditions to genuinely understand and live out the charge for love and justice for all in their local, national, and global contexts. May this fight for human rights now move beyond into the pulpits, the pews, and into the streets.

Join us for another exciting Strategic Dialogue on Saturday, March 10th. This time we’ve collaborated with the Poverty Initiative in putting together an incredible series of discussions. With a rich Abolitionist history in Maryland, we’ll be traveling back to examine this transformative moment in our country’s past.

Not unlike our times, profound political and economic inequalities preceding the Civil War set the stage for a battle, on the field, but more importantly in the hearts and minds of Americans. We’ll discuss the important role of religion and faith in arguments both for and against slavery. Finally, we’ll look to leaders like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown to guide us along our own journey on the Underground Railroad to freedom from poverty.

While the United Workers has for a long time looked to Harriet Tubman for inspiration as a Marylander and movement leader, coincidentally Frederick Douglass also has a connection to the Human Rights Zone Campaign as a former harbor worker himself! So, don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn, share, and grow together as leaders in the fight for human rights for all.

What: Strategic Dialogue
When: Saturday, March 10th, 10:30 AM-2:30 PM
Where: “2640″ St. Paul St. (aka St. John’s Church)
*Lite breakfast and lunch provided. Please RSVP to help us plan.

To RSVP, call 410-230-1998 or email ashley@unitedworkers.org

Rev. Roger Scott Powers introducing Fair Development Overture to Maryland Presbytery

The pressure on Inner Harbor developers is mounting. As we saw with our Fair Development Conference and recent spate of “Letter Drops” at GGP malls, the community support from every sector – students, unions, neighborhoods and faith is growing tremendously.

On Feb. 11, 2012, more voices joined this growing chorus demanding Fair Development. The Presbytery of Baltimore held their annual governing meeting. Over 100 representatives from Presbyterian churches from Baltimore City to Maryland’s western most Garrett County came together and voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Light Street Presbytery’s Fair Development Overture, with over 94% voting for passage. This brave act for social justice sends a powerful message of unity with United Workers’ Campaign for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Overture now goes before that national Presbytery at their Gathering in Pittsburgh this Summer.

Rev. Roger Powers of Light St. Presbyterian and a long time leader in the struggle for Fair Development at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, introduced the Overture with these words:

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a long history of supporting economic justice.  Our church has stood in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed, called for reform of corporate misdeeds, proposed living wages, supported economic boycotts, demanded safe working conditions, and supported collective bargaining.

Our own Confession of 1967 says “a church that is indifferent to poverty, or evades responsibility in economic affairs . . . makes a mockery of reconciliation and offers no acceptable worship to God.

Ten years ago, the 214^th General Assembly endorsed a consumer boycott of Taco Bell started by the Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers.  The community group sought better wages and working conditions for Florida farm workers who pick tomatoes that go into Taco Bell products.  With the support of the PCUSA and that of other denominations, the farm workers won.

In recent years, the United Workers Association of Baltimore has been organizing low-wage workers in the Inner Harbor to demand living wages, better working conditions, and respect for human rights.  They have received our financial support in the form of Self-Development of People grants.  They are now asking for our moral support.

Developers such as General Growth Properties and the Cordish Company, which control the Inner Harbor, receive large amounts of public money for what are billed as “revitalization” projects for depressed areas.  Yet the jobs created by these projects are unregulated, minimum wage, seasonal, and rife with human rights abuses.

Overture 2012-2 asks the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to call for an end to this kind of Poverty Zone Development and to advocate for Fair Development that respects human rights, maximizes public benefits, and fosters sustainability.

The Session of Light Street Presbyterian Church recommends that you send this overture on to the 220^th General Assembly for action.

The Fair Development Overture included this instruction to national General Assembly:

The Presbytery of Baltimore respectfully overtures the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to:

(1) commend the United Workers Association of Baltimore for its efforts at organizing low-wage workers to demand living wages, better working conditions, and respect for human rights.

(2) support the call of the United Workers Association of Baltimore for Fair Development Standards that will improve working conditions and alleviate poverty conditions for millions of workers across the United States.

(3) direct the Stated Clerk to write a letter to the prominent national developers General Growth Properties and the Cordish Company, the Mayor of Baltimore City, and the Governor of Maryland, calling for an end to Poverty Zone Development and urging the adoption of Fair Development that respects human rights (Work with Dignity, the Right to Health Care and Education), maximizes public benefits, and fosters sustainability.

(4) urge Presbyterians to:

a)    support the organizing of low-wage workers at malls to improve working conditions;

b)    join together with low-wage service workers to pressure developers to respect human rights and pay living wages in cities and towns across the country; and

c)    hold developers to account through worker-driven corporate accountability campaigns, changing the relationship between developers, the community, and workers, to secure human rights standards and Fair Development Agreements.

(5) request that the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness, and/or other appropriate entities of the church, help build a national public policy dialogue about how to ensure that public resources are used to benefit the public good rather than private interests.

Thank you to the Presbytery of Baltimore for standing strong with low-wage workers in the struggle for Fair Development!

Last Thursday, 40  students from Union Theological Seminary and leaders from the Poverty Initiative kick started “Occupy the Malls” with a creative flash mob at GGP’s Gallery Mall. Inspired by the biblical story of Jesus cleansing the temple of thieving money changers, this group of faith leaders “cleansed” this temple of consumerism through song and prayer. Disrupting business as usual, they burst into the spiritual, “Get on Board,” calling on workers, shoppers, and GGP to get on board with human rights. The flash mob ended with a prayer circle and reflection at the entrance to GGP’s mall.

In her blog entry entitled the “Cathedrals of Inequality,” Union Theological Seminary student, Valerie Freseman, reflects on the power of this action.

For six minutes today, however, we started to chip at the facade of this false cathedral. Those who are consumers at that mall and those who are workers became a bit more visible to one another- and to me, our action was almost the same as throwing the money changers out of the temple.”

To read the full entry, go here

“Occupy the Malls” calls on allies to stage creative flash mobs and actions at GGP malls in solidarity with low-wage workers at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Last Thursday’s prayerful flash mob was an incredible kick-off to “Occupy the Malls” and demonstrated the imaginative and unique possibilities that allies from all backgrounds can bring to the fight for Fair Development. Great work to the Poverty Initiative and all for an outstanding demonstration of solidarity and vision.

As the second largest mall owner in the country, GGP has properties all over. So no matter where you are, there’s likely a mall near you! Break out your creative cap and stand with harbor workers by staging your own Occupy the Malls flash mob. To learn more how you can take part, email info@unitedworkers.org.

The United Workers along with twenty eight organizations from the US gathered at Union Theological Seminary in New York City to participate in the Poverty Initiative’s 7th Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialogue. From West Virginia to South Africa, the Poverty Scholars Strategic Dialogues have become a space for organizations across the country and even the world to come together to learn, share, and inspire each other towards “Reigniting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign.”

For four days, we met in sessions to study and discuss the impact of the economic crisis on our communities and our organizing, the lessons learned from past movements, and how we can develop a unified strategy towards building a social movement to end poverty. We shared lessons from our local work and heard from the NEPA Organizing Center, Media Mobilizing Project, and the Vermont Worker’s Center. On the third day, S’bu Zikode, President of the Shackdwellers’ Movement in South Africa, spoke to us about their leadership development processes that have led to a growing movement of poor people in South Africa demanding their human right to housing and freedom from poverty. Chris Nizza and Dara Kell from Sleeping Giant screened a sneak peek of “Dear Mandela,” a soon to be released documentary about the Shackdwellers Movement.

But the Poverty Scholars Dialogue was not all talk, we demonstrated our unity and celebrated our victories. On Saturday, we picketed at Mario Batali’s exclusive restaurant Del Posto where workers are organizing with ROC-NY for work with dignity. We sang freedom songs, passed out fliers, and chanted in the multiple languages spoken in New York restaurants. After the picket, we went to the Domestic Workers United Gala to celebrate their 10 year anniversary and their recent historic victory of a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York state. Domestic workers and their allies exemplified the change that can be made when people act on their values and demand justice, just as we had done earlier at Del Posto. For years, DWU organized, protested, and met with legislators to make the all too often invisible exploitation of domestic workers visible. This commitment paid off and the Gala was a moment for all of us to celebrate this shared victory in the fight for human rights for everyone everywhere.

We ended the the four day Strategic Dialogue with a conversation about the upcoming Leadership School and how it can serve to further build a broad based movement. We cried about the hard road ahead, we reminded ourselves of our victories, we spoke of the important family bonds we’ve created, and recommitted ourselves to being leaders in a movement to end poverty.

To learn more about the Poverty Initiative and the Poverty Scholars Program, visit http://www.povertyinitiative.org/

This weekend, a delegation of United Workers members and allies will be in New York City for the second in our series of Poverty-zone Reality Tours to ramp up the pressure on GGP and Cordish and connect the Campaign for Fair Development with struggles for economic justice across the country. Check out this latest article about the campaign from Kari Lydersen from “In These Times” highlighting our National tours.

On Saturday, our friends and allies with The Poverty Initiative, an organization dedicated to raising up generations of faith leaders committed to building a movement to end poverty, will lead us in a walking Wall Street Reality Tour focusing on the people’s history of this financial and banking epicenter. Just blocks from Wall Street, the tour will end at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor! Well not exactly, it is actually called “South Street Seaport”, but guess who it is owned by? That’s right, GGP. There we’ll be joined by Domestic Workers United, ROC-NY, the Micah Institute, students from Ithaca College and others to educate consumers about the human cost of Poverty-zone development.

We are also very excited to time our tour to New York with the Living Wages NYC Campaign’s “Living Wages Weekend”, where over 60 house of worship throughout New York will preach on issues of economic justice and the need for the City Council to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. This Act would require that workers human right to a living wages would be respected in all publicly subsidized developments in the city. That Sunday, we testify at two of the congregations to share our past and present struggles for Living Wages and worker dignity and the need for all of us to be involved in requiring Fair Development standards.

Well, we can’t wait. Below is a schedule of events. Feel free to join us at any point along our Poverty-zone Reality Tour NY 2010. If you would like more information or to be a part of future tours, email info@unitedworkers.org.

Saturday, October 9th

12 PM– Wall Street Tour
Meet at at Battery Park near “The Sphere” monument to 9/11

3 PM— Consumer Action at South Street Seaport
Fulton & South Streets, Pier 17

6 PM— Dinner and Fair Development Roundtable at Union Theological Seminary

Sunday, October 10th

11 AM— Living Wages Testimony at Lemuel Haynes Congregational Church UCC

5 PM— Living Wages Testimony at Manhattan Mennonite Church

Last Wednesday night, a delegation of United Workers leaders, harbor workers and allies set off for Chicago, marking the beginning of our series of Poverty-zone Reality Tours. Through these tours, we are hitting General Growth Properties (GGP) and Cordish targets throughout the country, exposing the human rights abuses at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and connecting the Campaign for Fair Development with grassroots, faith-based, student, labor and human rights organizations across the country.

We gathered together Wednesday to prepare all our materials and supplies, eat dinner and discuss the tour. Loading up the minivan, we were excited to get on the road and start this long journey from Baltimore to Chicago. While we traveled through the night, we passed the time by deciding, as the first tour delegation, to name this series of tours: the Poverty-zone Reality Tours.

We arrived in Chicago early in the morning as the sun was rising behind us. Our first stop was our host, the White Rose Catholic Worker House, an intentional Christian community committed to hospitality, resistance to injustice, and a sustainable way of life. We settled in to our temporary home and prepared for the task ahead of us, a delegation to GGP headquarters and a workshop and presentation at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Conference. Even in our exhaustion, we knew we were here on a mission. We pushed sleep aside to practice our parts in the presentation and delegation.

After all this preparation it was back to the van. We headed down to the infamous Cabrini Green Housing Project to meet with Henry Warfield, a Cabrini resident and organizer with the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. Henry gave us a reality tour and explained the history of the first public housing tower in the country to be demolished. We learned the destruction of Cabrini Green paved the way for the dismantling of public housing throughout the country. Henry shared lessons learned from the organizing struggle to defend their human right to housing. He spoke of their successes and challenges along the way. We compared struggles and shared stories. It was a sobering example of how human rights, public benefits, and sustainability can be sacrificed for the private gain of developers and civic boosters.

Not far from the empty lots and boarded up homes of Cabrini Green, we headed to GGP headquarters located in Chicago’s downtown business district. Our delegation was joined by representatives from ARISE Chicago, an organization that builds partnerships between faith communities and workers fighting for justice.

Last year on Human Rights Day, while we were in Immokalee, Florida for our Fair Food Solidarity Tour, we sent Cordish and GGP a letter outlining workers demands for a Right to Work with Dignity, a Right to Healthcare, and a Right to Education and the responsibility that harbor developers have to ensuring basic human rights standards at their development, click here to read letter. In the nine months since we sent GGP and Cordish the letter, neither has responded to workers’ call for them to come to the table and resolve the human rights abuses taking place. GGP recently celebrated 30 years of Harbor development, calling for a revitalization of the harbor,that continues to perpetuate poverty-zone development and ignore the human costs. So, we thought we would pay GGP a visit just to make sure that they received the letter. We asked to speak with GGP Chairman, John Bucksbaum. He was “not available”. Perhaps CEO, Adam Metz? “Not available”. What about another top executive? Nope. We had come all the way from Baltimore, was there anyone who might be able to come downto receive a packet of information with the letter? NO. So we left our packet of information with the receptionist, hoping it might make it’s way up the chain of command, but knowing that if not, GGP would soon be hearing more from us.

The next day, we took part in the last day of the CCDA Conference, a gathering of thousands of faith leaders and grassroots organizations working with poor communities to redevelop through Christian-based principles, by attending workshops, presenting on the Campaign for Fair Development, and connecting with other grassroots groups. We engaged conference participants by doing interviews in which people spoke about what Fair Development means to them. We had the pleasure of meeting CCDA founder, John Perkins and Board member and long-time CCDA leader, Mary Nelson, who also took part in a video interview.

As the conference came to a close, we said good-bye to Chicago and headed back to Baltimore. On the way home, we reflected on what we learned from the people we met, the struggles we heard about, and the actions we engaged in. We had only scratched the surface, Chicago is a city with a rich organizing tradition that still thrives today. We look forward to returning to continue building relationships with other grassroots, faith-based, student, and labor organizations in the fight for Fair Development.

Next stop on the Poverty-zone Reality Tour!— New York, October 9 and 10.

To learn how you can participate in upcoming Poverty-zone Reality Tours, email info@unitedworkers.org

Last Thursday evening, the Labor Sub-committee of the City Council held a hearing on a living wage bill sponsored by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke. The bill would have required major retailers grossing over 10 million dollars to pay all their employees the City Living Wage. The chamber was packed with low-wage workers, faith leaders, community organizers, union organizers, activists, and other living wage supporters sitting side by side with the city’s business elite, who came out to oppose the bill. After hours and hours of testimony from both sides, the bill died, failing to get one of the two votes needed to move past the Labor Sub-committee.

History was not made that day. But in 1994, Baltimore did make history as the first city to pass a living wage ordinance, which required city contractors to pay a living wage. Bishop Douglas Miles, faith leader with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), who led the fight for this first living wage ordinance, spoke to Baltimore’s living wage legacy. A legacy which in fact arose from witnessing the poverty created by the Inner Harbor and the seeing the need for setting a basic living wage standard in the city. “At that time we lobbied for this legislation, we were told that such a move, as is being told today, would bankrupt the hospitality industry, drive conventions away from Baltimore, cause other businesses not to want to relocate to Baltimore… We were told that nothing could be done to help such workers gain a living wage without destroying Baltimore’s economy. We did not believe it then and we do not believe it today.”

One by one, supporters of the living wage bill stood up to testify.  Sally Dworak-Fisher, an attorney with the Public Justice Center, clearly laid out why living wages matter and how the cries of “unintended consequences” are unfounded. Nicole Jassie spoke on behalf of Legal Aid, who helped Councilwoman Clarke draft the proposed legislation. Matthew Weinstein with Progressive Maryland put Baltimore’s increasing level of poverty in historic and economic perspective and called on City Council to stand up to the “chicken littles” like they did in 1994. Leaders with the United Workers talked about what it means to be one of those low-wage workers being paid poverty wages and how living wages can allow one to live with dignity. Representatives with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), A Beautiful Struggle, Good Jobs First, Bmore Local, NAACP, AFSCME, the newly formed Baltimore CAN coalition, and many more stood before the council to call for living wages.

But the “chicken littles” came up too, crying that big box stores will not find Baltimore appealing if they can’t pay poverty wages, that some workers are just “not worth $10.59 an hour”. One opponent, Jeff Zellmer, legislative director of the Maryland Retailers Association, even drew gasps from the room when he called the bill a “Holocaust for the retail industry”.

When the decision came to make history once again and move towards Fair Development for Baltimore or allow developers and big box stores to continue violating worker’s human rights, poverty-zone development prevailed. But as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” And so poverty-zone development might have prevailed today, but we continue building the unity needed to bend that arc towards Fair Development, towards dignity and respect for all low-wage workers, towards freedom from poverty and oppression, towards human rights for all.

Media Coverage of the Living Wage Hearing:

Baltimore Sun- “Bill requiring $10.59 ‘living wage’ dies in City Council commitee”

Baltimore Brew- “Jaw-dropping moments, before Baltimore City Council lets ‘living wage’ bill die”

In front of Baltimore’s shuttered ESPN Zone, former ESPN Zone workers, harbor workers, and allies gathered to call on ESPN Zone to meet face to face with workers to resolve human rights abuses, including violation of the WARN Act, failing to give workers 60 days notice prior to closing.

One of those allies who came to stand in solidarity with ESPN Zone workers was Rev. Roger Scott Powers, Pastor of Light St. Presbyterian Church. As Rev. Powers opened us in reflection and prayer, a guard for the Cordish property ran up and attempted to grab the mic from him. But he continued praying for justice and dignity as the guard continued to disrupt the press conference by standing directly in front of him and telling him repeatedly that he was not allowed to be there, “We pray too for the executives that made this decision to close this ESPN Zone without giving fair notice to their employees. Stir their consciousness oh God. Instill in them a sense of justice and fairness. Help them to see the error of their ways. Bring them to the table to meet with these workers face to face. Open their hearts and minds…”

Watch the video of the guard attempting to shut-down the prayer.

As we know all too well, poverty-zone development can only be made tolerable by making workers and their conditions invisible. With cameras and reporters present, the attempts on the part of those who control the Inner Harbor to silence the calls for justice was exposed in plain view. ESPN workers, Debra Harris, Winston Gupton, and Leonard Gray, who had been told not to talk to the media by ESPN Zone management, spoke on behalf of the Human Rights Committee that has formed to demand justice in this shut-down. Leonard Gray announced, “Until the day that developers are held accountable for poverty-zone development and ensure basic human rights for all harbor workers, we are calling on ESPN Zone to right their wrong by responding within 7 days and meeting face to face with us to resolve these abuses.”

Check out the video of workers’ testimony.

Also there to speak in solidarity with the ESPN Human Rights Committee was Peter Sabonis of the Legal Aid Bureau, legal counsel to the United Workers. Sabonis spoke to the WARN Act and how ESPN Zone has clearly violated this worker protection.

After the press conference, workers and allies took their message directly to harbor consumers. With stacks of fliers in hand, we told consumers about the human rights zone campaign and this most recent and blatant example of worker disrespect.

More coverage of today’s press conference at the ESPN Zone:

“Recently let go ESPN Zone workers are protesting the decision to close the Inner Harbor restaurant,” ABC 2, June 30, 2009

“Former ESPN Zone workers protest sudden layoffs,” Baltimore Sun, June 30, 2009

This video shows a Cordish guard attempting to intimidate Rev. Roger Scott Powers, Pastor of Light St. Presbyterian Church, from leading us in an opening prayer at a press conference calling for dignity in the ESPN Zone shut-down.

United Workers Theater Justice Conference Opening Address by Willie Baptist of the Poverty Initiative on Reigniting Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign and the role of Leadership in the Movement to End Poverty.

Willie Baptist is a former homeless man and father who participated in and lived through the Watts uprisings, the Black Student Movement of the Los Angeles riots in 1965. With 40 years of experience as an organizer, Baptist currently serves as scholar-in-residence and coordinator of the Poverty Scholars Program at the Poverty Initiative.