Mother’s Outreach Network
Invites you to lunch and a live broadcast of a conversation with our independent research partners from the Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School about the early lessons from our Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot.
(The In-Person Lunch & Conversation is a Ticketed Event, or Join the Conversation Free via Zoom at 1pm)
RSVP for the In Person Lunch and Conversation, or for the free Zoom Link by October 21.
With Special Thanks to Our Honorary Committee
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.)
Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12th)
Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6)
Councilmember Anita Bonds, At Large
Councilmember Christina Henderson, At Large
Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, (Ward 4)
Councilmember Vincent C. Gray (Ward 7)
First Assistant Attorney General for DC Lauren Haggerty, Esq.
Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, At Large
Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau (Ward 1)
Councilmember Zachary Parker (Ward 5)
Councilmember Brooke Pinto (Ward 2)
Councilmember Ronald C. White Jr., At Large
On Monday, October 28, I invite you to join me in person for lunch and a live broadcast of a discussion of Mother’s Outreach Network’s (MON) fight against the forcible, poverty-driven child and family separation among low-income families across the District, who are overwhelmingly Black. The discussion will include a conversation with independent researchers Dr. Jim Greiner and Mandy Mobley Li, Esq, of the Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School, who are evaluating our pioneering Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot. If you can’t make the lunch in person, we would love to see you online!
Our conversation will reveal the early lessons from the Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot and shed light on why this research is vitally important. We will discuss how this research could assist policy-making to prevent poverty-related child separation through expanding economic opportunity. Mother’s Outreach Network believes that no child should be separated from their family because of poverty.
Mothers in DC who are raising children in poverty and who have children removed from their homes – and who are also predominantly Black – receive less than half the financial support of those who then go on to foster their children. Mother’s Outreach Network explores this anomaly and works towards better outcomes and greater equity.
Please join me and our research partners and be a part of this important conversation.
Melody
Melody Webb
Founder and Executive Director
Mother’s Outreach Network / DC Guaranteed Income Coalition
What is the Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot?
The Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot program provides monthly direct cash assistance for 1 year to Black mothers across the District who have been involved with the child welfare system. In addition, there is a smaller 3-month summer pilot program.
The program, implemented by Mother’s Outreach Network, provides $500 a month to ease financial burdens for Black mothers, prevent further interventions from the child welfare system, and keep families together.
Why does the Mother Up Guaranteed Income Research Pilot program specifically target Black mothers involved in the Child Welfare system?
The pioneering Mother Up pilot assists Black mothers whose children are in in danger of being taken by the government due to poverty-related reasons. The majority of these cases involve neglect arising from the inability to meet the basic economic needs of their family.
Many mothers are working one or two jobs, are the sole caregivers of their families and often the caregivers for elderly family members. Yet, in some states, the government will pay the foster families who care for these mothers’ children more than twice that it was paying for the family to stay together.
Nationally, 53% of Black children experience at least one Child Protective Services investigation by their 18th birthday. In Washington D.C., 82% of children involved in the child welfare system are Black.
Mother’s Outreach Network believes that no mother should have their child taken from them because they are poor and that is why we invite you to register now to join us in person or online as we convene policymakers, academic leaders and concerned residents to examine how we can work together to end forced family separations.
Thank You to Our Foundation Partners
Support provided by a grant from the Greater Washington Community Foundation.
Mother’s Outreach Network Board of Directors
Melody Webb, Esq, Founder and Executive Director, CEO
Esther Coleman, Esq, President & Board Chair
Sophia Mitchell – Vice President
Cheli English-Figaro, Esq, Treasurer
Rene Blocker, Esq, Director At-Large
Cathy Krebs, Esq, Director At-Large
Kelvin Lassiter – Director At-Large
Special Thanks to Cheli English-Figaro and Cathy Krebs for being this year’s Mother Up Event Co-Chairs!
Location:
True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street, N.W., Washington D.C., 20009
There is no parking onsite.