• The ACCESS Project
  • Home
  • About Us
  • 2001 Year End Report
  • 2003 Year End Report
  • Supporting ACCESS
  • In The News
  • Select Director's Publications
  • Contact Us
• Exhibit and Invited Lectures
  • Gallery Guide
  • Exhibit Stories
  • Photo Exhibit News
  • Exhibit Venues

    Cassandra Garrison

      On February 14, 2003, I signed the purchase papers for my very first house. This was an amazing event because 14 years ago on Valentine’s Day I was in a shelter with my daughter, Alexander. Without the opportunity to obtain a college education, I would still be struggling to keep my head above water, still using public benefit programs to subsidize my low wage work. It has been a long, difficult journey, but my life has come full circle. Today I work full-time for the Oregon Food Bank as a Policy Advocate. Education has given me the opportunity and the tools to change the outcome of my life and to move from poverty into a productive life for my child and myself. Education has opened the doors to a better future.
      In 1989, after devastating losses, I found myself homeless with a baby. While at a shelter, the family advocates encouraged and assisted me as I applied for a cash welfare grant, food stamps, education and employment related childcare, Section 8 housing, WIC and other federal and state subsidy programs. However, the most important thing the family advocates encouraged me to do was to apply to attend Portland Community College.
      Once I moved from the shelter to my Section 8 apartment, I enrolled in PCC- Sylvania, where I was awarded scholarships and childcare grants. I obtained an Associate of Applied Science in Civil Engineering in 1992. When I heard of a new full-ride scholarship called the Nancy Ryles Scholarship to attend Portland State, I applied. In 1992 I was awarded this scholarship, the second ever given in the State of Oregon. In 1995 I left welfare forever. I graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with an emphasis in Community Development, and a certificate in Urban Studies. I promptly applied for the graduate program in Public Administration at Portland State University. While attending college I did a full-time work-study with the City of Portland Planning and Community Development Department. In 1999-2000, I received the Award of Achievement in recognition of combining full-time employment and academic achievement. In 2002, I co-founded and funded the Poverty Action Team, a nonprofit agency working in the low-income community aimed at taking families out of poverty by building community, resolving crises, creating hope, and discovering opportunities for economic stability through self advocacy and education. In 2002, I started my own consulting business, Systems Integration Management (SIM) Consulting, where I provide community education and outreach to nonprofits servicing low-income families. The State of Oregon has benefited from my college education, both by my increased contribution to the economy, and the likelihood that I will never return to public assistance.
      Some will say I am an exception?an overachiever?with the ability to overcome the odds. But I am not an exception. However, I would like to be the example of what IS possible for welfare women who, if given the opportunity, can rebuild their lives through an education.