This Women’s History Month we honor the village. People who mother have always worked to keep our children nurtured and free. We acknowledge that not every woman is a mother, nor does she need to be, and plenty of fathers are active parents raising their children. 

The traditional “village” of mutual aid and support, multigenerational households, and child care that allowed women to explore all of their dimensions are less frequent presently. We’re proud to be a part of the ReIMAGINE CalWORKs coalition, which is reshaping racist policies so that CalWORKs allows parents to reach their dreams.

CalWORKs is the state’s anti-poverty safety net. It provides life-saving cash aid and supportive services to 750,000 children living in 360,000 families. These families are 90% women-led, representing 60% Latine and 17% Black families. The ReIMAGINE CalWORKs Coalition pushes for freedom and security for families. We are working to transform CalWORKs into a trauma-informed program, replacing racist sanctions that don’t work and allowing families to choose their pathway out of poverty. 

Anti-poverty and welfare programs have a long history of advocacy and influence from women. For example, Johnnie Tillman, founded Aid to Needy Children-Mothers Anonymous with her friends to mobilize other mothers to help redefine the conversation around poverty. She later helped found the National Welfare Rights Organization. She challenged other feminist groups to join her movement to change guidelines for the welfare program so that women could make their own decisions for their own lives. Tillman also advocated for a guaranteed income as a way to liberate mothers to make their lives better for their children and themselves. 

“Maybe we poor welfare women will really liberate women in this country.”

Johnnie Tillman, welfare reform and antipoverty advocate

The work continues now in 2025 and powerful women like Ambyr Baham, CalWORKs Advocate and Leader with Student-Parents Are Reimagining CalWORKs (SPARC), and a Student Trustee of the Los Angeles Community College District, are joining other parent leaders from We Are CalWORKs to help California understand what a family-first, compassionate CalWORKs program focused on success can look like.

As a nontraditional student parent, the ancillary grant from CalWORKs allowed Baham to purchase school supplies, cover gas for commuting, afford a laptop, and provide general assistance to make sure her son and herself had what they needed to succeed. Because of her own hard work and family stabilization programs, Baham is graduating from Los Angeles City College with two associate’s degrees and a Pathway to Law School Certificate and has  already been accepted to UC Merced, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Cruz as an English major.

Baham also advocates for a stronger CalWORKs. We can ReIMAGINE CalWORKs, Baham says, by ending punitive policies like clerical errors, simplifying the application process, reporting requirements, and resource distribution along with being more transparent and user-friendly, and taking a more individualized approach to meet parents’ needs.

This program has ensured that I can provide food for my household, equips me to continue my education, and manage the many financial challenges that arise from running a household to unexpected expenses. 

Ambyr Baham, CalWORKs Advocate and Leader with Student-Parents Are Reimagining CalWORKs (SPARC)

Briana Burks is  a leader with Parent Voices Contra Costa and a mom to four kids. A CalWORKs participant since she was 17, Burks ReIMAGINEs CalWORKs as providing more wrap-around and holistic services to help young people shape their future. “My life would have been different in the beginning when I first got on CalWORKs if they had offered me help with my education, with child care, with clothes for me and my son.  Perhaps I would be a registered nurse by now and make my childhood dreams come true.” Instead of people having to find out about these programs on their own, Burks feels that they need to open these doors to different options for career paths.

Burks is also thinking as a mother and for her children and other youth. “I have 4 kids, one of them might need this help one day. Our future generations, our grandkids, somebody down the line is gonna need help. And I just want it to be easier for them. We need to stop this so our future won’t be discouraged when it’s time to ask for help.”

 We need to defend these programs against cuts, get rid of these unnecessary sanctions, and ReIMAGINE CalWORKs into a program that opens those doors to help us get to where we want to go.

Brianna Burks, PArent Leader, Parent voices contra costra