Interview with Maureen Taylor & Marian Kramer

Abstract

Maureen Taylor is a social worker and dedicated community activist who fights for food, clothing, shelter, light, heat and water for those in need. She has served as chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights organization since 1993, and was elected treasurer of the National Welfare Rights Union in 1994. Taylor defends recipients of public aid at the Michigan Family Independence Agency in case disputes, and serves as the program director for the Detroit NFI Community Self Sufficiency Center, a program that works to assist chronically unemployed persons in the Detroit Central Empowerment Zone. Graduating first in her class, Taylor received her Bachelors Degree in Social Work from Marygrove College in 1983. In 1994, she earned her Masters Degree in Social Work from Wayne State University. Taylor has received many awards for her community organizing and leadership, including the National Community Leader Award from the National Black Caucus in Washington, DC.

Marian Kramer has been in the front lines of the Welfare and Civil Rights Movement since the 1960s. She has retained her commitment to end poverty in America by empowering the poor, especially women, as leaders. She has fought government programs, such as Workfare, defended poor women against unjust persecution for welfare fraud and led campaigns to elect the victims of poverty to political office. She has organized poor people’s movements, housing takeovers by people without homes, and led efforts to unionize in the South. Kramer is the recipient of numerous awards for community service, and is known as a mentor to college students fighting poverty. In 2004, she was awarded an Alston/Bannerman Fellowship, a fellowship for long-time community activists of color. Currently, she is Co-chair of the National Welfare Rights Union.