National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO)

Introduction:

National Welfare Rights Organization was founded by a nationally recognized chemist and only the second African American on the faculty of Syracuse University- George Wiley. In the early 1960s, he immersed himself in CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) in Syracuse and, in 1964, made the agonizing decision to abandon his scientific career, and devote himself to the civil rights movement. In 1965, after striving to link civil rights with the escalating anti-poverty movement, he founded the Poverty/Rights Action Center, which later evolved into NWRO.

Initial Days:

Since the 1965, the National Welfare Rights Organization successfully organized thousands of welfare recipients to demand equal income, and resources for the families. It was a powerful initiative to challenge the system that kept certain groups of people at the bottom on the bases of race, class, and gender. By 1969, NWRO membership was peaking at about 22,000 families nationwide, and proved to be an emerging center of unity for systematically suppressed people.

Major Impacts:

NWRO's impact on people extended far beyond money and legal rights. By asserting that the

It also brought positive light to the idea of receiving welfare, and changed their views on getting their rights through a different way. It is very well known that NWRO changed the course of community organizing by introducing the organizing models that till date are replicable in most social justice contexts. NWRO made remarkable contribution to class, race, and economic injustices, and left historic marks in the history of social justice movements in the U.S ranging from civil rights, income equalities all the way to women rights. It shook loose increased welfare benefits, developed legal and procedural rights, and created a movement of poor black