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.

Photo Exhibit

A nationally touring exhibit of 50 framed, museum quality, color photographs coupled with narratives created by students who are welfare eligible, single parents changing their lives through the pathway of higher education.  The installation presents a unique view of poverty from insiders’ perspectives and reframes the cultural (de)valuations of poor single parents vis-à-vis family, work and higher education in the United States today. View the Gallery Guide.