PHOTO/DONATED
Excerpts from her obituary below written by Dr. Claire Cummings reveal only small parts of a huge life.
BOSTON, MA — Dottie Stevens joined the movement to end poverty when she saw politicians—including and sometimes led by Democrats—ripping holes in the safety net, “ending welfare as we know it,” and enforcing “workfare” while real jobs were disappearing. As she learned and taught and fought, she helped to prepare us for the next stage in the fight to claim the right to survive and thrive. As we prepare to enlarge and report on that fight, we are inspired by Dottie’s example. Excerpts from her obituary below reveal only small parts of a huge life. To join her work to end poverty, contact us at https://www.facebook.com/oneclassonecause
Dorothy “Dottie” Kech-Stevens
October 21, 1941 – March 27, 2014
Former Massachusetts Gubernatorial Candidate, Mattapan Woman of the Year, Community Organizer, Editor, Human Rights Cities Leader, Beloved Friend and Mother.
Dottie Stevens passed away in Massachusetts on Thursday, March 27, 2014. She was a fierce advocate for justice and was unwavering in her struggle for human rights for all. In her last months and days, organizing from her hospital bed “office,” she directed her projects of Survivors, Inc., Survival News, and Human Rights Cities, making and receiving calls, working on grants and budgets, and directing bedside meetings.
She founded, with others, Survival News and Survivors, Inc., in 1987, outgrowths of the group Advocacy for Resources for Modern Survival, (ARMS), the organization she started when she was a student at University of Massachusetts/Boston. Survival News became the longest, continually published, original, women’s anti-poverty journal, providing a voice by, for, and about the experience and effects of poverty on women and children in the U.S. Dottie, the journal, and the organization received many awards and honors during these years, culminating in having their historical records included in the Women’s History Archives of Smith College, the oldest and largest women’s history archive in the U.S.
Dottie was sought out and spoke before countless diverse audiences, with an authority, dignity and respect that moved every audience. Whether it was huge or small demonstrations before the Statehouse, testifying at hearings, in small classrooms, or at national conventions, her message of hope and calls to action were clear, authentic and effective. With Dottie’s encouragement and belief in our abilities, we who worked with her were able to write, speak out, organize, educate and raise ourselves out of obscurity and poverty. Her sweet spirit, her strong voice, her all-encompassing love, her tireless battle against poverty, and her amazing wisdom will be greatly missed by all who knew, loved, respected and admired her. May she rest in peace having left the world a better place than she found it by changing the lives and chances of literally hundreds of women and children specifically, and of all those she met who were fortunate enough to share the sphere of her enduring and living legacy.
A Memorial Issue of Survival News dedicated to Dottie’s memory and containing all of the tributes that have been sent will be soon be available at www.SurvivorsInc.org
