Can I Live, Inc. Educates the Face of Poverty and Challenges Status Quo in Public Housing

RALEIGH, N.C., May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an effort to promote home ownership, self-sufficiency, and gradual independence from government assistance, public housing residents, leaders, and advocates will mobilize to promote term limits and work requirements for non-elderly, non-disabled public housing residents at a three-day conference later this month.  

Hosted by Can I Live Inc., a nonprofit organization that employs collaboration, legislative advocacy, and community engagement to help public housing residents become economically self-sufficient, the Resident Council Legislative Conference (RCLC) will be held May 27-May 30 at the National Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.  

"This resident-led, resident-driven event is the first of its kind," said Racquel Williams, a once struggling single mother of four on welfare and founder of Can I Live Inc. "It's built around the radical notion that if you want to end generational poverty in America public housing residents themselves must play a central role in transforming the culture of their own communities."  

Attendees will meet with congressional representatives as well as hear from national experts such as Reginald Bowman, president of the Citywide Council of Presidents (CCOP) at the New York City Housing Authority, and Larry Woods, executive director of the Housing Authority of Winston Salem, North Carolina. 

"This conference will empower residents to use our strength in numbers and leverage it in local and national government," Bowman said. "Residents will come away from this conference with a long-term commitment and strategy to shape all public housing policy in the years to come."

Woods is a leader in the "Step Up Housing" movement, which provides tenants with more options and resources to help them transition from traditional public housing into market rate housing and eventually, homeownership. 

"We want to help families become more self-sufficient and reduce their overall need for federal, state, and local support," Woods said.

Review Can I Live Inc.'s full position paper.

About Can I Live, Inc. 
Can I Live, Inc. is the only national public policy and advocacy organization whose board of directors is composed of residents who live in public housing.   

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For Media Inquiries Contact:
Kerra Bolton
Telephone: 919-744-4601
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Can I Live, Inc.