Welfare Warriors Demonstrate at YWCA Fundraising Luncheon

Welfare Warriors Demonstrate at YWCA Fundraising Luncheon

On April 17, 2002 Welfare Warriors protested at YWCA's $100 a plate "fundraiser". The YWCA's W2 program, YW Works, has been a leader in Wisconsin's war on the poor. In 2000 YW Works received $36.5 million, plus $2.6 million in bonuses, to serve 609 cash cases and 393 "case managements." This comes to approximately $64,203 per case, little of which actually went to the families YW Works is supposed to be helping.

YWCA's fancy building on Martin Luther King Blvd, Milwaukee

YW Works has the highest sanction rate in Wisconsin, sanctioning 48% of their cases at an average of 45.1%.

YW Works is allowed to keep all money from their economic sanctions of families in poverty.
From July 2000 to December 2000.

YW Works wrongfully sanctioned 13 mothers of newborns. (W2 law allows moms to stay home full-time and receive a check for the first 90 days of the child's life.)

New moms in Milwaukee have in effect provided, without consent, interest-free loans and grants to the provate welfare agencies, with money they needed desperately during this time and to which they were legally entitled.

Welfare Warriors ask, "how much more money does the YWCA need?" With millions in profits from their sanctions of poor families, why is it necessary for them to hold a fundraiser to get even more money? Welfare Warriors are demanding that the YWCA remember their Christian and women's mission, and end their economic abuse of mothers and children in poverty.

Welfare Warriors demonstrate in front of the YWCA, May 11, 2001