Mimi Abramovitz is an American author, educator and activist. Abramovitz's work focuses on civil and welfare rights of those living in the United States, especially women.[1][2]
Education
Abramovitz completed her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan, where she earned a B.A. in sociology in 1963.[3] She went on to obtain her master's degree in social work in 1967 and her Ph.D. in social work from Columbia University in 1981.[4]
Career
Abramovitz moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she became active in an existing organization and went on co-found other organizations. She became active in the American Independent Movement, an organization who summarizes their goal, "The American Independent Movement (AIM) has been working since 1966 to get people together against the rich, powerful few who run New Haven and the whole country".[5] She'd also go on, while in New Haven, to co-found with other women, New Haven Women's Liberation, an organization that allowed her to focus on welfare rights, organize anti-war rallies in Washington, D.C., and the unionization of Yale Universityclerical workers. Abramovitz would begin to teach social welfare policy at the Hunter College.
Abramovitz, along with Jan Poppendeick and Melinda Lackey created a course at Hunter College called the Community Leadership course, which consists of both education about the history of activism and training in relevant skills. Then students use these skills in the community, aided by a student organization, the Welfare Rights Initiative(WRI), which was also co-founded by an Abramovitz, Poppendeick, and Lackey. The WRI describes itself as a "grassroots student activist and community leadership training organization" whose mission is to train and support "students who have firsthand experience of poverty to effectively promote access to education for all".[6][7]
Outstanding Book award (1977) by the Gustavus Myers Center For the Study of Human Rights, for her book Under Attack, Fighting Back: Women and Welfare in the United States.[4][9]
Abramovitz, Mimi (1996). Regulating the lives of women: social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press. ISBN9780896085510.[12][13]
Abramovitz, Mimi; Blau, Joel (2007). The dynamics of social welfare policy. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN9780195311709.[15]
Chapters in books
Abramovitz, Mimi (2011), "The U.S. welfare state: a battleground for human rights", in Hertel, Shareen; Libal, Kathryn (eds.), Human rights in the United States : beyond exceptionalism, Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 46–67, ISBN9781107400870.
Journal articles
Acker, Joan (July 1986). "The privatization of the welfare state: a review". Social Work. 31 (4): 257–264. doi:10.1093/sw/31.4.257. PMID10300978.
Acker, Joan (1993). "Should all social work students be educated for social change? Pro". Journal of Social Work Education. 29 (1): 6–11. doi:10.1080/10437797.1993.10778794.
Acker, Joan (November 1998). "Social work and social reform: an arena of struggle". Social Work. 43 (6): 512–526. doi:10.1093/sw/43.6.512.
Acker, Joan (October 2001). "Everyone is still on welfare: the role of redistribution in social policy". Social Work. 46 (4): 297–308. doi:10.1093/sw/46.4.297. PMID11682971.
Acker, Joan (April 2005). "The largely untold story of welfare reform and the human services". Social Work. 50 (2): 175–186. doi:10.1093/sw/50.2.175. PMID15853194.
^"Mimi Abramovitz, DSW". American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
^ abc"Mimi Abramovitz". National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI). Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.