Headline: ADVOCATE
FOR POOR WOMEN HAD "QUITE A JOURNEY"
Reporter: By Greg Freeman
Publication: ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Thu., Dec. 7, 2000
Section: METRO, Page: C1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT
Fighting poverty
LaDoris
Payne-Bell wants women to know that there is no shame in getting welfare if
they need it.
Payne-Bell
knows from personal experience: When she was younger, she was on welfare for
a while. Her son, Derrick, who's now 32, was a baby at the time. Her husband
was a Vietnam veteran who suffered from schizophrenia, and she suffered from
depression. "I needed public support, and I got it at that time, "
she said. "Eventually, my husband got Social Security because of disability,
and that was the way we were able to pull ourselves up."
Bell has come
a long way since those days. The founder of WomanSpirit and the Imani Family
Center in north St. Louis, Bell has become a major proponent for women to move
from poverty and crisis toward their dreams, both here and around the world.
As
Payne-Bell puts it, "I've stood in line for government cheese and I've
stood before the United Nations." And she's not exaggerating.
Having been poor,
Payne-Bell knew that many people assume that poor women don't work. "Most
do work, but at poverty-level wages, " she said. "It can be an awful
cycle."
Payne-Bell
worked her way out of poverty, and thought she could help others. In 1993, she
was working with Ecumenical Housing Corp., which helped find homes for low-income
people. "I had a dream at that time, to help people by providing support
for them, " she said.
One thing Payne-Bell knew was that while there were places for women who were in crisis or in recovery, and there were sororities for middle-class women, "there were no places for poor, black women just to be, " she said. "We needed to set up a place for ourselves, a place for peace, a place to reflect."
There was also
a need, Payne-Bell said, to help low-income women achieve an education, self-direction
and work satisfaction.
As a result, the Imani center was born. Imani is a Swahili word,
meaning faith. And while the center hasn't always had lots of money, faith has
kept the center alive.
Still,
Payne-Bell, along with Sister Mary Jude Jin, who volunteered to work with her,
always found enough money to keep the center going. Two years ago, a grant of
$98,000 from the Missouri Department of Economic Development made it possible
for Payne-Bell to become the paid executive director and for the center to offer
entrepreneurial internships.
The center, now
located in Jennings, offers some services to men and to middle-class people.
But
it is women that Payne-Bell is particularly interested in. She helps empower
people to move from circumstances beyond their control to positions of strength
and financial self-sufficiency.
One
way she has done this has been by teaching the poor that they are not as isolated
as they might think. "Poor people have a lot of thoughts on issues, "
she said. "I like to take what people are experiencing and help them connect
with what's going on in the rest of the world. For example, we show the link
between welfare reform and economic restructuring."
Payne-Bell has
gained international recognition as a skilled trainer in helping women gain
economic power. She served as a delegate to the United Nations World Conference
on Women in 1995 and the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Environments in 1996,
and she has traveled to Germany and Beijing.
It
should come as no surprise, then, that she was one of four recipients of the
Lady Liberty Award this year from the Goals for Americans Foundation (the other
three were St. Louisan Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden;
Sen. William V. Roth of Delaware; and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark). The
awards honor "Americans whose commitment, initiative and leadership set
them apart as visionaries and guardians of the future."
Payne-Bell is pleased with her accomplishments but says she's got more to do. "It's been quite a journey, " she said, "but I've got to keep moving ahead."
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