Executive Director's Note:
We hope you enjoy our 2023 Annual Newsletter: Standing With Moms! It is our heartfelt token of appreciation to you! Replete with 2023 highlights, it hints at our exciting year ahead!
Founded in 2009, Mother’s Outreach Network has grown explosively, starting in 2021. One of our biggest supporters quipped recently “You’re an overnight 13-year success!”
The key was coalition power! During the height of the pandemic, in 2020, we quickly partnered with Bread for the City, ONE DC, Serve Your City Ward 6 Mutual Aid, ROC DC, and the other table members who formed Let’s GO DMV. That effort ultimately became the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition, whose joint work has leveraged legislative wins around cash transfers, benefits protection, and power-building with moms and others who are typically marginalized from the economy and the democratic process.
The pride of our work is the moms. For example, the mom featured in our guaranteed income pilot short film, which we link to in a story below, has addressed the DC Tax Revision Commission and also testified at a Congressional briefing alongside mothers and other caregivers from across the country. She did the latter two weeks before she welcomed her fourth child under five into her family. Don’t miss her story captured in our film.
From our origins as a purveyor of legal and civic education to our current movement lawyering and research role in pushing to change DC systems with parent engagement and multi-layered action – we cannot accomplish our mission without the support of countless volunteers and financial contributors.
This year alone we have launched a guaranteed income pilot program, and in 2024, we will do even more.
We eagerly await the initiation of the research phases of our guaranteed income pilot program with partners Abt Associates Consulting and the Access to Justice Lab at Harvard Law School.
From our annual fundraiser to our summer picnic and summit, we draw strength from our community. That community is you – myriad law student, lawyer, and other volunteers; partner organizations; and people themselves impacted by poverty. You have made a difference from the organization’s outset. Over these years, college student interns, tax attorneys, parent activists, and union members have flocked into the fold of volunteers. We are so proud to help bring diverse groups and individuals together to change systems that foster economic stability and security for the DC moms that face the toughest of struggles as they raise their families.
We are so grateful for the efforts, time, and treasure you have contributed – no matter how big or small. We are so grateful for you – our community stakeholders, individual donors, institutional partners, and volunteers. Included in this group of supporters, intentionally, is a broad family of partner organizations. Why this approach? We seek to advance big change. An impact can only be made by moving wide-ranging, intersectional communities to transform systems. This is heavy work that cannot be lifted by one individual or one organization alone.
Thank you for taking part in our ambitious drive to render such change. Our hearts are full of love, joy, and hope for this coming year and the future knowing that you stand behind and with us. We look forward to your continued partnership in the days ahead, as we stand behind and with mothers, their families, and communities. We are so grateful for you. And we wish you and your loved ones a glorious 2024.
In Solidarity
Melody (she, her, hers)
Melody R. Webb, Esq.
Founder and Executive Director
Mother’s Outreach Network / Guaranteed Income Coalition
Annual Fundraiser Event
Stand With DC Moms Annual Fundraiser
October 10, 2023
Mother’s Outreach Network held its annual fundraiser at Busboys and Poets. We extend our sincerest appreciation to you for your continued support of Mother’s Outreach Network. Your efforts made a remarkable difference in the lives of our moms.
The Year in Review: Big Events
As we reflect on 2023, we’re especially proud of the moments when we were able to advocate for family preservation and guaranteed income on the national stage. Whether online, in Chicago, or right here at home on Capitol Hill, the year provided us with several opportunities to share our work and vision with an audience from around the country and the world
BIG Conference
In June, the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition was represented at Income Movement’s 21st Annual BIG (Basic Income Guarantee) Conference in Chicago.
The conference was an opportunity for guaranteed income advocates from around the country, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, to come together to meet, teach, and strategize. We were proud to represent the DC Guaranteed Income Coalition along with our partner organizations Bread for the City, Save Us Now Inc., Let’s GO DMV, and My Sister’s Place.
In our panel session, “Building Intersectional Coalitions, Shifting Culture and Narratives, and Nurturing a Diverse Policy Landscape” we discussed our recent victories and plans for the future as a diverse, advocacy-focused, intersectional coalition. Presenters Allegra Hatem, Tiffany Blakney, Maria Jackson (all with Mother’s Outreach Network), Kelvin Lassiter (Save Us Now Inc.), and Brittany Pope (Bread for the City) spoke about the DCGIC’s organizing strategies and shared stories to combat some myths about guaranteed income. As Ms. Jackson shared:
“Some people believe that people who receive guaranteed income do not want to work and would not want to help themselves … I am in school right now, working on getting my degree. I am currently looking for a part-time job…. Guaranteed income would help me finish school, find a job, and save up for a house. The extra money would also go towards taking care of my kids.”
We left Chicago energized and ready for another year of organizing work! We can’t wait for next year’s BIG conference in San Francisco!
Hidden Foster Care Lobby Day on Capitol Hill
In July, Mother’s Outreach Network moms joined with partners from around the country on Capitol Hill to educate Congress about the issue of hidden foster care.
Hidden foster care occurs when a child protective services agency separates parents from children and arranges for someone else, usually kinship caregivers, to live with and take care of the children, not through formal court procedures, but by threats of taking children into the formal foster care system and placing them with a stranger if the parents do not comply with the family separation. We called on Congress (1) to pass legislation requiring the Children’s Bureau to collect and publish data on this issue, (2) to amend the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 to read that its purpose is to “prevent family separations” (rather than preventing foster care alone), and (3) to use its spending power to require due process for families at the state level.
At the Hidden Foster Care Lobby Day, we attended a Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill and spoke directly with Congresswoman Gwen Moore (Wisconsin) about our work. MON representatives–including mom advocates Tiffany Blakney, Kimberly Jackson, Maria Jackson, Tarshe McEachin, and Tenika McEachin–also met with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to discuss the issue of the hidden foster care system in Washington, D.C. Ms. Blakney spoke specifically about the trauma of family separation:
“Separating children from their families should be the last option. When children are uprooted from their homes, it creates separation anxiety and other mental issues for the children…These mental health issues continue even when the case is closed and the children are put back with the parents…Instead of trying to separate children from families, we should focus on giving individualized resources to families who are being investigated.”
This wasn’t our first time educating politicians about the hidden foster care system–you can watch the recording and read our testimony from December of 2022, when we spoke on this matter before the DC Council.
Kempe Conference
In October, MON attended the 2023 Kempe International Virtual Conference: A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare. The Kempe Conference included over 1,800 attendees from over 25 countries, and provided a space for child welfare advocates to share about how to transform the child welfare system. Our panel “Grassroots to Powerhouse” discussed how system-impacted parents working with MON decided to become advocates and use their experiences to make change. In a session moderated by Executive Director Melody Webb, mom leaders Linda Brown, Shonta’ High, Maria Jackson, and Tenika McEachin shared about their experiences with the system, how they got involved with MON, they lessons they have learned, and why projects like our Mother Up guaranteed income research pilot program are so important. In the words of Linda Brown, from the pilot’s community advisory board:
“My perspective is that we make a whole lot of assumptions about families that aren’t true. We assume a lot of family needs, like education for example. Education is important, but it’s not important to a family who doesn’t have a place to sleep at night. I liked that the pilot program allows families to decide what they need for themselves.”
We are so honored that these moms are a part of our organization and continuously use their voices to advocate for change. If you’d like to see the recording of our session (and all the other Kempe presentations), the conference’s virtual platform will be available to all registered participants until December 31, 2023.
Annual Summer Picnic & Summit
At our Annual Summer Picnic & Summit moms gathered at the Southwest Branch DC Public Library for food, fellowship and drafting their demands to policy makers. These include mandates for addressing gaps in federal safety net programs!
Worker Relief & Credit Reform Act Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill
Mother’s Outreach Network program participant Yesmine Holmes stands next to Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin at the U.S. House of Representatives Rayburn Building meeting room.
This fall saw Mother’s Outreach Network on Capitol Hill more than once. Joining forces with our partners from Global Women’s Strike, we advocated for the Worker Relief and Credit Reform (WRCR) Act right here in the backyard of some of our moms.
The WRCR Act, reintroduced by Congresswoman Gwen Moore, would redefine who is a worker to include those who are unpaid mothers/family caregivers as well as low-income students in higher education–thereby making both eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for the first time.
On October 24th, Yesmine Holmes, a participant in our Mother Up guaranteed income research pilot program, spoke at a congressional briefing on the WRCR attended by Congresswoman Moore and Congressman Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania, and advocates who came from around the country to lobby for the bill. Ms. Holmes shared her experience with the Mother Up program and why she feels all caregivers should receive the financial support that an expanded EITC would provide:
“I can tell you firsthand that taking care of kids is work…I don’t have that family support where I can just have mom or dad help me out with the kids. Every single part of taking care of my kids is my responsibility…The extra money I receive has made it possible for me and my family to get the house we live in now. But I want this program to be permanent and available to all moms.”
See all the caregiver statements from the briefing, including Ms. Holmes’, here. And don’t forget to endorse the WRCR Act and contact your representatives to show your support!
DC Guaranteed Income Coalition's 3rd Anniversary Celebration
On November 9th, we celebrated our Third D.C. Guaranteed Income Coalition Anniversary. We paused to joyfully reflect on past hard-won accomplishments and to prepare for the collective work ahead! We gathered with friends new and old alike and connected with community members over food and fellowship. We can’t wait to continue these partnerships in 2024.
Issue Areas
Benefits Cliffs
Over time, government programs have established an array of social safety net programs with specific metrics to determine if an individual is eligible to receive government-funded benefits. In general, at least one of those metrics is the individual or household’s income. Cash payments from programs like guaranteed income initiatives that MON is now operating can increase income above the eligibility threshold for these programs, thereby reducing or, in some cases, causing the loss of eligibility completely, also known as a “benefits cliff.” Additionally, receiving cash transfers from a private entity rather than a public/governmental entity as determined by the IRS can also impact eligibility to receive safety net benefits.
The benefits cliff describes the decrease or complete loss of social safety net benefits due to an increase in household income, which can result from cash transfer programs. Mom-leaders Tiffany Blakney and Maria Jackson testified in April 2023 before the Committee on Business and Economic Development of the DC Council in an effort to draw attention to this issue and advocate for the DC Council to preserve these benefits for individuals enrolled in programs like MON’s Mother Up Guaranteed Income pilot. In addition to asking that the DC Council fund additional Guaranteed Income programs, MON moms advocated for the Council to establish a fund to protect parents who participate in Guaranteed Income pilot programs, and to support DC’s pursuit of waivers from the federal government agency and permanent legislation on the federal level. Tiffany and Maria shared their own stories and explained to the Council why protecting these benefits is so important to ensure families avoid further economic risk.
“The extra funds from a guaranteed income would help my family greatly by providing that extra money. That’s why I feel it shouldn’t affect Medicaid, Social Security, TANF, and SNAP. Everybody’s not receiving the same thing they’re getting, they’re chosen to receive this money, so I don’t think benefits should be affected at all.”
– Maria Jackson, Mom-Leader
“If we allow people to have more income, then I’m asking you to protect those benefits as well. Let these programs coincide with each other so that everybody can live and feel equal to the community that they live in…I think that the Council should be universal with its policies and criteria for its guaranteed income programs overall.”
– Tiffany Blakney
