NOW LEADER JOINS OTHERS IN SHATTERING MYTH OF THE "WELFARE QUEEN"

TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1995

• NOW National Secretary Karen Johnson
• Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
• Other former and current welfare recipients

WHAT : Will testify about how welfare helps people survive difficult times in their lives and become productive adults.

WHEN : Tuesday, May 23, 1995, 2-5 p.m.

WHERE : Room 430, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

WHY : As part of hearings hosted by Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and the Media Campaign for Fairness on Welfare, participants will discuss facts still excluded in the debate on so-called welfare reform.

 Karen Johnson was elected NOW National Secretary in July 1993. Born in Jersey City, N.J., Johnson overcame the hurdle of growing up in a violent urban ghetto to pursue an extraordinary nursing career spanning 25 years, 20 of which were spent in the U.S. Air Force. She grew up poor, fatherless and on welfare, and she experienced the pain, humiliation and stigma associated with being on welfare. Johnson also knows the importance of public assistance, which enabled her and her family to survive and to contribute back to their community.