Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights (POWER, Maine) www.povertyontrial.org

*Updates*Updates*Updates*
This is where we post recent updates & news related to POWER & issues related to our mission & our community. If you'd like to sign up for POWER's email updates, click here.

TWO UPCOMING EVENTS to oppose Governor's
proposed cuts to basic human needs:

Candlelight Vigil

Tuesday, January 24, 2011, at 6:00pm

www.mejp.org

Candlelight Vigil:
to oppose the Governor's irresponsible proposed cuts
to health and human services, and
to promote a more fair way to balance the budget.
Please join us for a candlelight vigil an hour before the Governor's State of the
State address. This vigil will take less than an hour. Candles will be provided.
You can go into the State House to warm up and walk around but remember that you
will have to go through security if you want to go beyond the entrance. We are
also trying to get an indoor space in case of bad weather but do not have one yet
--please see Maine Equal Justice Partners website for updates: www.mejp.org and please refer to this website for any updates and/or if you have any questions.

Press Conference

Wednesday, January 25, 2011, at 10:00am

www.mejp.org

Press Conference with Engage Maine (This event will take less than an hour)
Come to Augusta to tell the governor and legislators that Maine people support critical health and human services programs that help Maine people through tough times, and that we expect them to find a fair way to balance the budget. Help get the word out! Share this information, invite family and friends, organize a car pool. Thanks for standing up for Maine values!!!
--please see Maine Equal Justice Partners website for updates: www.mejp.org and please refer to this website for any updates and/or if you have any questions.
Note:
*New security measures at the State House.
In order to get into the State House, you must now go through a metal detector,
empty your pockets, and have purses, packages, backpacks and the like scanned.
Signs with sticks are not allowed. (Signs are not needed for either of these two events.)

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18th Annual Changing Maine Gathering
“Visions and Strategies for the Occupy Movement in Maine"
Saturday, January 28, 2012, 9:00am-4:30pm (Snow date: January 29)
Randall Student Center, U/Maine, Augusta
For more information, please call Larry Dansinger: 525-7776.

Why this day to examine the Occupy Movement?
These are unprecedented times. We’re in the midst of an awakening
of People Power, a speaking out, an uprising of actions. There’s a
paradigm shift going on, a cultural change—thanks to Arab Spring and
now the Occupy Movement.
Occupation campaigns in Portland, Augusta, and Bangor and support
groups and actions in all corners of Maine have brought new optimism
to those who have worked for months, years, or decades to promote
democracy and economic and social equality locally, statewide, and
beyond. Rarely have movements caught on as the Occupy Movement has,
not only with activists but also with the public and the media.
Concepts like People Power, “We are the 99%,” democratic and
consensus-based decision-making, the physical occupation of
government-owned land, nonviolent action as a foundation, and
strategies that focus on transforming our society are unique and
exciting.
The Occupy Movement has experienced camp closures, but its potential
is still huge. How can we utilize the Occupy Movement to help create
a vision and a strategy for social change in Maine?

Goals for the Day
This day-long gathering is NOT intended for decision-making (altho
agreements are encouraged/helpful) but primarily for brainstorming,
networking, information exchange, and broadening the potential for
the Occupy Movement in Maine. This includes encampments in Portland,
Bangor, and Augusta and support groups/actions in other parts of Maine.

Some questions that will likely be addressed:
*Why have people joined Occupy?
*Are there historical precedents for our current occupation actions?
*How can we use Occupy to build a long-term movement for change?
*What are or might be some goals for the Occupy Movement?
*What are OUR hopes and visions?
*What are strategies Occupy campaigns can use to achieve our goals?
*Should we renew 24/7 occupations?
*Should some Occupy actions be coordinated statewide or regionally?
*How can we work with other groups to achieve our goals?
*How can different Occupy groups stay in contact with each other?
(Thanks to UMA and Women, Work and Community for arranging the space)

Schedule for the Day
(This agenda is flexible and may be changed during the day or before)
Morning—Where we’ve been, where we are now, where we want to go:
8:30-9: Register and gather
9-9:30: Introductions + agenda
9:30-10:30: History of Occupy actions, why have people joined, occupy and social change
10:30-10:45: Break
10:45-11:30: Visions for the Occupy Movement in Maine
11:30-noon: Strategy Brainstorm (continued during lunch)
Noon-1:30 PM: Lunch (please bring your own food/place-setting if possible; simple lunch provided also)
Afternoon—How we can get where we want to go:
1:30-2:45: Small groups based on various Occupy strategies and tactics
—what’s worked, what hasn’t worked, what’s next.
2:45-3: Break
3-4:15 Review/discuss strategies and tactics for Occupy Actions—Where
do we go from here?
4:15-4:30: Wrap up (but space to stay longer is available)

Registration Form (OK to register by email)
Name_______________________________
Address_____________________________
City/St/Zip__________________________
Phone_______________________________
Email ______________________________
Organization (if any)__________________

___Enclosed is a donation (any or no donation is OK) for the day $_______
___Enclosed is a registration to hold a space (make payment, if any, on January 28)

___I need a ride; contact me re: carpooling
___I can offer a ride; have riders contact me
___I need childcare, register by January 24

Directions and handouts will be sent to pre-registrants. The location
and bathrooms are fully wheelchair accessible. For special needs/
requests, please state below or on a separate sheet:

Return this portion of the form to:
Resources for Organizing and Social Change, 161 Stovepipe Alley, Monroe, ME 04951,
Questions? Call Larry Dansinger, (207) 525-7776.

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Rally Against Devestating DHHS Cuts!!!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011, at 10:00am
Hall of Flags, State House, Augusta, Maine
For more information visit www.mejp.org
Unprecedented DHHS Budget Cuts Would Devastate Working Families, the Elderly, People with Disabilities and Maine Communities
*DHHS: Department of Health and Human Services

Yesterday the Governor released proposals in a 2012-2013 Supplemental Budget targeting DHHS that would decimate programs and services across the State. Below we have summarized many of these proposals (the summary is long because there are so many proposed cuts).

PLEASE JOIN US TO OPPOSE THESE DEVASTATING CUTS:
RALLY to Collectively Stand up in Opposition to these Proposals:
When: Wednesday, December 14th at 10:00 am
Where: Hall of Flags, at the State House in Augusta
Public Hearings are scheduled for next week as well: Wednesday, December 14th, Thursday, December 15th and probably Friday, December 16th. (We will share more details on the hearings once we have them. See www.mejp.org for updates) These will take place in Room 228 at the State House in Augusta.

Proposals in the Supplemental 2012-2013 Budget
(We understand that some of these proposals may change. This preliminary analysis is based on the language of the printed supplemental budget presented December 6, 2011.)

Proposed Cuts to Eliminate MaineCare Eligibility for Multiple Groups:
Working Parents (21,000 Maine people): The complete elimination of eligibility for MaineCare for approximately 21,000 parents between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL). (This proposal would also give DHHS the authority to lower parent coverage to 51% FPL without going back to the Legislature in the future.)
Childless Adults (approximately 18,000 Maine people): The complete elimination of MaineCare coverage for non-disabled adults between the ages of 21 and 64 without children living at home living under the federal poverty level (known in the Program as so-called non-categoricals).
Young Adults (over 7,000 Maine people): The complete elimination of MaineCare coverage for over 7,000 young adults (age 19 and 20) under 150% of the federal poverty level.

Proposed Cuts to Medical Assistance for the Elderly and People with Disabilities

Prescription Drug and Health Care Assistance for People over 65 and People with Disabilities: Approximately 72,000 seniors and people with disabilities would lose some or all assistance they currently receive to pay for Medicare and/or prescription drug costs. Of the 72,000, over 20,000 (with incomes between 135-185% FPL) will lose all assistance they currently receive through the Medicare Savings Program (MSP) to help pay for Medicare premiums, co-payments and deductibles, prescription drug costs, and coverage through the so-called "donut hole". The remainder, approximately 52,000 people, will lose some assistance with Medicare and/or prescription drug costs.
Prescription Drug Assistance for Certain People over 62 and People with Disabilities: Approximately 5,000-6,000 low-income older adults (over age 62) and people with disabilities who do not have Medicare will lose all assistance they currently receive to afford their prescription medications through the Drugs for the Elderly program (DEL). These are individuals with serious health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Proposed Cuts to MaineCare Services

Services for all MaineCare adult members: The elimination of a significant number of services for MaineCare members including the following services:

Adult Family Care;
Ambulatory Surgical Center;
Chiropractic;
Consumer Attendant Services;
Dental;
Occupation Therapy;
Physical Therapy;
Podiatry;
Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinics;
Targeted Case Management; and
Vision.

Services for Extremely Vulnerable Populations: The closure of all Private Non-Medical Institutions (residential homes or boarding homes) leaving approximately 6000 people, including seniors and adults with severe and persistent mental illness, without a place to live and needed personal care services.
Other cuts to MaineCare services including:

Limit out-patient hospital visits to 15 visits a year regardless of health status;
Limit in-patient hospital stays to 5 stays a year regardless of health status;
Limit coverage for brand name prescription drugs from 4 to only 2 per month; and
Limit on Suboxone for the treatment of opioid dependency to coverage for a two-year period.

Proposed Cuts to Services for Children and Families

Young Children and their Parents: The elimination of all state funding for the Head Start Program, which will force programs across the state to cut a total of 235 children off the program. Head Start provides early care and education, as well as health, nutrition, mental health, social and family support to low-income families with children from prenatal to five years old.
Working Parents: Cuts almost half of all funding for the Child Care Subsidy Program. This will lead to a deep cut in the availability of child care vouchers for families with incomes below 250% FPL. The child care subsidy program helps parents with low income to afford the child care they need in order to work.
Other cuts to services for children and families including:

Cut the Family Reunification Program that keeps families intact and housed;
Cut the funding for Wrap-Around ME that assists children (ages 5-18) with serious emotional or behavioral issues;
Cut the Alternative Response Program that provides case management for children at risk of abuse or neglect;
Cut Crisis Services for people experiencing mental health-related crises; and
Cut services for children with serious emotional or behavioral issues living in residential settings.

www.mejp.org

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Also - Don't forget to CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS!!! Each & every call is extremely important! It's up to US to tell our elected officials that we, the People of the State of Maine, OPPOSE these draconian cuts to our social safety net! Call your representatives & senators today & tell them to vote NO!

To find your legislators' contact information, go to: www.congress.org. Type your zip code into the space in the right hand column (underneath where it says "Get Involved"). Follow directions from there. It's very user friendly.
For more information and/or updates about the proposed cuts: www.mejp.org

THE TIME IS NOW! Please pick up the phone & make a call to help save our social programs!

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Special Announcement:
New Changing Maine Directory!
This announcement comes to us from our friends at Resources for Organizing & Social Change.

NOW AVAILABLE: The sixth (2009) edition of the Changing Maine Directory is available on the web at www.changingmaine.org and in print form as a 180-page directory. It is an incredible resource, listing nearly 1,500 grassroots social action and social service organizations throughout the state in 34 different categories. The print directory is available for $12 (postpaid) from Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), 161 Stovepipe Alley, Monroe, ME 04951. You can order one or more copies by sending a check (sorry, no credit cards) made out to ROSC to the above address. For questions, call Larry Dansinger at (207)525-7776. The information is also compiled on the internet at the www.changingmaine.org web address.

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Special Announcement:
Stay connected with the local movement to end poverty!
This announcement comes to us from our friends at the Maine Poor People's Economic Human Rights Coaltion, of which POWER is a member organization.

For more information and/or to learn how to join the Maine PPEHRC, please
visit www.peacebreadjustice.org, or contact Larry Dansinger: 207-525-7776.
The website link above is for Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods,
where you will find a page devoted to the Maine PPEHRC, that contains a newly
updated mission statement for the Maine PPEHRC & a newly updated Bill of
Economic Human Rights.

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POWER in the News!
> Council Seeks to Determine Effects of Poverty - MPR's Maine Things Considered --02/28/2009
> Home Heating & the Economy - MPBN's Maine Watch --11/21/08
> No Country for Cold Men - Joe Public Films --11/08/08
> Poverty symposium targets 'chronic' symptom: hunger - Kennebec Journal --10/28/08
> Economic Symposium - WABI TV5 News Desk --10/28/08
> POWER member speaks at Maine Poverty Symposium - Joe Public Films -- 10/27/08
> Healthcare Truth Commission Coverage -- WMPG's Sound Ecology [ listen ] -- 06/11/08
> Healthcare Truth Commission! -- MAIN Update, p.9 -- 06/2008
> New Maine Housing Commissioner: Nikki McLean! -- MAIN Update, p.9 -- 06/2008

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Healthcare Truth Commission a HUGE success!!
June 10, 2008 at Community Public Access, 516 Congress St, Portland, ME
...more details... | more about healthcare justice | healthcare survey
> Healthcare Truth Commission Coverage -- WMPG's Sound Ecology [ listen ] -- 06/11/08
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking & inhumane."
--Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The stories we shared and witnessed at this Healthcare Truth Commission were nothing short of incredible....Thanks to those brave individuals who dared enough to stand up and speak their truth, those of us who dared enough to listen learned exactly why this injustice must end.....By the end of the evening there was not a heart among us left untouched, nor a soul left unstirred. READ MORE...

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Check out some of our latest video projects:
POWER's Healthcare Crisis Video

Larger screen | Watch movie on YouTube | Visit POWER's YouTube channel | ( TOP )
Produced by POWER's Video Committee; features the song Healthcare Justice!, written &
performed by Colette Washington (www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org)

Other recently created POWER video pieces:
--Public Forum on Healthcare Justice!
--Demonstration for Healthcare Justice!
--National Housing Action Workshop at the US Social Forum!
--World Health Day Demonstration!
--Economic Human Rights Truth Commission!

Join us as we work together to build a local movement to end poverty:
BECOME A POWER MEMBER TODAY!

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign
Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights (POWER) is a proud organizational member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC). This is a national campaign made up of 100 organizations (and counting!) from states all across the country. Together we are working to build a new movement to abolish poverty. As its mission states, this campaign is committed to "uniting the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. We work to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights- such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication, & living wage jobs."

> For more information please visit: www.economichumanrights.org

The University of the Poor
The University of the Poor is concerned with the unity and development of the leaders of a growing movement to end poverty, led by the poor as a united and organized force. Since its inception, the University of the Poor has shared education tools with grassroots anti-poverty groups across the nation, has helped link media professionals, performing artists, social workers, members of the religious community and labor organizers with the movement to end poverty, and has facilitated the exchange of knowledge between poor people and their allies across the globe.

> For more information please visit: www.universityofthepoor.org

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Contact your elected officials

Find & contact your state & federal elected officials: www.congress.org
Just click on the link above, type your zip-code into the space in the right-hand column (just below where it says "Get Involved"), & follow the directions from there (it's very user-friendly!). It will provide bios & contact information for your representatives at the state level, i.e., in the State House of Representatives & State Senate (here in Maine, these are officials representing you in Augusta), Maine's governor, & elected officials at the federal level, i.e., in the U.S. House of Representatives & the U.S. Senate (those who are representing you in Washington, D.C.).

Note that if you live in an area with more than one state electoral district (for instance, one Portland zip code may include 6 different electoral districts), - then the website gives you the option of providing more information to help you pinpoint your exact electoral district. Just type in either your residential address, or your 9 digit zip code (this is your regular zip code plus 4 extra numbers), and voila! This is helpful for finding your specific state represenative & senator (those representing you in Augusta).

Below we've listed the contact information for Maine's elected representatives.
For more information, please visit our voting information page.

State Representatives:

To leave a phone message for your State Representative call: 1-800-423-2900(TOLL-FREE!)

State Senators:

To leave a phone message for your State Senator call:
1-800-423-6900 (TOLL-FREE!)

U.S. Senators

Senator Olympia Snowe:
Call: 1-800-432-1599 (toll free) | email Sen. Snowe
Write:154 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Senator Susan Collins:
Call: 202-224-2523 | email Sen. Collins
Write: 413 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

U.S. Representatives

Representative Chellie Pingree ( District 1 )
Call: 207-774-5019; or 1-888-862-6500 (toll free) | email Rep. Pingree
Write: 1037 Longworth House Building, Washington, DC 20515
Representative Mike Michaud ( District 2 )
Call: 1-877-210-5351 (toll free); or 202-225-6306 | email Rep. Michaud
Write: 1724 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

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If you need help

2-1-1 Maine
There is a great new resource called "2-1-1 Maine" to help people find various health
& human services. This service is available via the phone & also over the internet,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To access 2-1-1 Maine:

By phone: just dial 2-1-1 from any phone.
By internet: www.211maine.org
- Search 2-1-1 Maine's Online Help Directory:
  211maineportal.communityos.org

We also have various resources listed on our Resources & Links page. But if you
don't see what you need here, dial 2-1-1 from any phone (available 24 hours a day,
7 days a week). And remember: if you're having an emergency, dial 9-1-1!

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"There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little,
or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together,
they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new
and unsettling force in our complacent national life."

-- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967
Black and white photo portrait of Dr. King

Black and white photo portrait of Dr. King