This series provides an overview of the history and administrative structure of Arise for Social Justice, its Board of Directors, committees, and staff. The extensive minutes and reports are especially rich in detail about the workings of the organization. Notebooks, notes, and "to-do" lists kept by various Arise members give a good sense of the day-to-day workings of the organization. Events files document planning and arrangements for enrichment and fundraising events sponsored by the organization. Publications include general information brochures and flyers as well as newsletters and publications by the creative writing group. Arizine, the publication of the WISE (Women in Support of Each Other) group, can be found in SERIES X. HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND EDUCATION.

This series contains some records of day-to-day financial business and record keeping, but is primarily related to fundraising. Included are general fundraising mailings as well as grant proposals and reports to foundations and other organizations. Grant-related records are a rich source for detailed descriptions of Arise and its programs and also give a sense of the foundations and organizations funding social justice work in the late-twentieth century.

Records in this series include extensive materials related to Arise's work to reform the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) and advocate on behalf of individuals dealing with the Department. There are also records of children's and youth groups within Arise, and advocacy materials related to legislation on a variety of related subjects such as child care and child abuse. Organizations files document Arise's work on strengthening family support mechanisms, preventing teenage pregnancy, and helping to provide employment for youth. Related materials can be found in SERIES IV. CRIMINAL JUSTICE and SERIES XXIII. VIOLENCE.

Materials in this series document activities associated with creating an effective and responsible police force, police sensitivity training, crime legislation, prisons and prisoners' rights, alternatives to incarceration, anti-death penalty activism, political prisoners, youth violence, and gangs. Included are materials related to the Springfield, Massachusetts, police department, particularly police-community relations in light of controversial shootings and other incidents in the city. Also documented is Arise's program of advocacy on behalf of individuals within the criminal justice system. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional materials about various Criminal Justice/Community Justice projects.

This series contains materials about classes, workshops, and training sessions presented by Arise for its members and the general public. Topics include building job skills, self-sufficiency, empowerment and leadership, and organization-building. There are also files on education and training groups and events run by other organizations in which Arise members participated. Reference files document a variety of educational issues and techniques. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about the Myles Horton Free School. Related materials can also be found in SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS, and SERIES XVI. PEER SUPPORT.

This small series consists primarily of reference materials on resources available to the elderly and on advocacy and service organizations working on elderly issues.

Materials in this series document Arise's activities related to environmental and environmental justice issues at the local, national, and international level particularly those impacting low-income people.

This series documents a wide array of activities related to food and hunger, from a Community Garden Project and the establishment of an Arise Food Coop to provide nutritious and low-cost options for obtaining food, to a program to cook and deliver hot meals to homeless families temporarily housed in motels, to Food Stamp eligibility training and advocacy, to involvement with regional, state, and national organizations and campaigns working to address hunger in the United States. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about the Food Coop and the Hot Meals Program. Related materials are in SERIES XXIV. WELFARE.

Health Care materials document Arise's early concerns about Medicaid access through statewide and national health care access campaigns in the middle 1990s. In addition to materials documenting Arise's Medicaid advocacy and training sessions, Arise members did research on Medicaid providers and private insurers in the Springfield area. The bulk of the records document mid-1990s work on universal health care campaigns at the national level and the Arise Health Care Access Campaign which advocated for a single-payer health care referendum question on the Massachusetts state ballot in 1994. Subject files document Arise's role as a clearinghouse for information about available health care, the insurance industry, and health care access legislation. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about the Health Insurance Access Campaign (aka Arise Health Care Access Campaign).

This series documents Arise's multi-faceted HIV/AIDS work, including efforts to establish a needle exchange program in the city of Springfield, the Sex Worker Outreach Project, and general educational efforts about HIV/AIDS. Included are extensive records of Arise's contract work for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and substantial reference files. Records related to Women in Support of Each Other (WISE) include notes on women's group meetings and issues of Arizine, the magazine published by WISE beginning in 1998. The bulk of the materials date from the late 1990s to 2003.

Materials about Arise's work on homelessness include records of direct service initiatives such as Arise's Homeless Action Center, Homeless Support Group, Marsha's Apartment, and Hot Meals Program for homeless people housed in motels. There are also records of state and local committee, task force, and board work, and the organization of vigils, rallies, and other visibility campaigns, such as Sanctuary City (a warm weather "tent city" for homeless people), advocating for more shelter options and affordable housing in Springfield. The series also includes records of work in coalition with organizations such as the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. Materials about shelters include a collection of shelter residents' accounts of violence and mistreatment by staff in these facilities. The content of this series is especially closely connected to materials in SERIES XII. HOUSING. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about various projects. Other related materials can also be found in SERIES IX. HEALTH CARE, SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE, and SERIES XXIV. WELFARE

This series contains materials related to the development of affordable housing and preservation of existing subsidized units. It includes records of advocacy for legislation, work on committees and boards, as well as Arise's collaboration with Service Providers, Inc., to rehabilitate the Rainville Hotel into a single room occupancy residence with in-house support services. Files about the Rainville Hotel project include extensive research materials as well as funding and construction files. Materials in this series also document Arise's work to help meet the need for affordable and transitional housing alternatives suitable for different populations, such as single parent families, the disabled, and the elderly. There are also records of activities aimed at improvement of substandard conditions in private and public low-cost and subsidized housing and advocacy on behalf of tenants. These include work on a 1989 rent control initiative in Springfield, fact sheets and training sessions about tenants' rights, and records of efforts to organize tenants in public and private housing in collaboration with the Massachusetts Tenants Organization (MTO) and the Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants. Materials in this series are especially closely related to those in SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about various projects. Related materials can also be found in SERIES IX. HEALTH CARE, SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE, and SERIES XXIV. WELFARE.

Materials in this small series primarily document organizations and legislation related to immigrant and refugee issues which intersect with Arise's social and economic justice activities.

This small series contains records related to a Job Bank and the Arise Jobs and Skills Committee from the 1990s plus files related to workers' issues such as minimum wage and sexual harassment, as well as materials from state and national organizations seeking to refocus national priorities and advocate for social justice in the workplace. Related materials can be found in SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS, SERIES XV. PEACE, SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE, SERIES XX. SOLIDARITY, and SERIES XXIV. WELFARE.

Materials in this small series document Arise members' participation in demonstrations against the Gulf War and advocacy for a shift in federal budget priorities away from military and defense spending toward social and economic justice issues. Related materials can be found in SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE, SERIES XX. SOLIDARITY, and SERIES XXIII. VIOLENCE.

Records in this series document Arise's advocacy training and services, support groups and services for the disabled, veterans, "moms in stress," and GLBT people. A significant portion of the materials are about Arise's Self-Reliance Center/Project which coordinated such things as skills, resources, and tool exchanges. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain information about various peer support projects. Related materials can also be found in SERIES III. CHILDREN AND YOUTH, SERIES V. EDUCATION AND TRAINING, SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS, and SERIES XII. HOUSING.

Materials in this series primarily document work to increase political participation of low-income people through campaigns to register and mobilize voters and to change representation on the Springfield City Council from all at-large seats to some representation by ward. In addition there is information about a variety of third-party candidates and organizations working to reform the election process. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about various projects. Related materials can be found in SERIES IX. HEALTH CARE.

This series documents work at the core of Arise's mission from its founding. Included is Arise's early work with the statewide "Up to Poverty" campaign of late 1980s which sought to bring welfare benefits up to the federal poverty level. Other projects included early 1990s campaigns to prevent utilities from shutting off low-income customers who fell behind on paying their bills, compilation of a directory of social justice organizations in New England, and work toward a fair tax code, including efforts to defeat a the Citizens for Limited Taxation ballot initiative in Massachusetts in 1990. Arise also established a Speakers Bureau through which low-income people could speak for themselves, promoting self-esteem and educating the community at large to its common interest in social and economic justice. Speakers Bureau members presented testimony before the state legislature and its committees, spoke at rallies and vigils, to church and community groups and organizations, in classrooms at area colleges, and at conferences. The records in this series include detailed planning materials for a proposed New England People's Economic Summit in 1996 that was ultimately cancelled. There are also materials detailing Arise's participation in the Kensington Welfare Rights Union's Economic Human Rights Campaign which advocates for the economic human rights of housing, health care, a living wage job, and education as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There are also files related to many organizations working on changing national budget priorities to address income disparity. There are also extensive reference files on subjects such as banking, the state and federal budget, community development, economic sustainability, and trade. Related materials can also be found in SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS, SERIES XII. HOUSING, SERIES XV. PEACE, and SERIES XXIV. WELFARE.

This small series documents efforts to confront racism within Arise and collaborations with other Connecticut River Valley organizations seeking to address racism in the community.

Materials in this series document work aimed at the integration of issues and activities with low-income people outside of the U.S., particularly in central and south America, especially the effects of the U.S. lifestyle and standard of living on other people and places. Included are files related to hosting visits from Nicaraguan women and a return visit by Arise members to Nicaragua. Arise worked closely with the New England Central America Network (NECAN) for much of the 1990s and with other organizations such as the Western Massachusetts Coalition Against Apartheid, the Springfield Area Central America Project, the Central America Solidarity Association and the American Friends Service Committee. Files document rallies, vigils, and public education events, such as the People's Quincentenary Celebration 1992 which presented an alternative interpretation of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about various projects. Related materials can also be found in SERIES VII. ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, SERIES XV. PEACE, and SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE.

This series documents Arise's involvement with the local community as it advocated for low-income residents and sought funding, members, and partner organizations. Arise's wide-ranging mission and activities can be seen in the range of organizations represented, from churches to neighborhood councils, to NOW and the League of Women Voters, to Community Resources Against Community Killers (CRACK). The most extensive files in the series are those associated with Arise's role as a delegate agency for the Springfield Action Commission. Materials include correspondence, notes on meetings, newsletters, and clippings.

This small series contains materials about Arise members' participation in conferences and groups working on substance abuse issues. Related materials can be found in SERIES X. HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND EDUCATION.

Materials in this series are primarily related to violence against women. Included are reference files and resource materials about local organizations and services available to victims of sexual assault, and to battered women. Arise was especially active in the middle 1990s organizing a series of vigils in honor of women murdered by partners and ex-partners as well as training and events aimed at improving media coverage of domestic violence. Related materials can be found in SERIES III. CHILDREN AND YOUTH which contains materials about gang and youth violence, and SERIES IV. CRIMINAL JUSTICE.

This series documents Arise's work related to the welfare system. Various federal and state social support programs are included, such as Food Stamps; Transitional Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); General Relief (GR); Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Children's Clothing Allowance, Emergency Assistance (EA); Chapter 707 Rental Assistance Program (707); Emergency Assistance to Elderly, Disabled, and Children (EAEDC); Supplemental Security Income (SSI); and Transitional Assistance to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC). From its early work to increase benefits in order to bring them up to the federal poverty level, through various state and national "reforms," Arise organized demonstrations, rallies, and speak outs, lobbied and testified at hearings, gathered petitions, participated in conferences and workshops, served as a general information resource, and provided training. Arise members served on state and local committees, discussion groups, and advisory boards, and cooperated with a wide variety of organizations working for the rights of welfare recipients, and to influence welfare policy and reform. The files are especially rich in fact sheets, reference, and training materials about the specifics of the various programs and the many changes to them through the 1980s and 1990s. They also reveal some of the ways groups sought to counter the prevailing narratives about welfare recipients, welfare fraud, and the efficacy of state and national welfare reforms, time limits, and welfare to work programs. Grant proposals and reports in SERIES II. FINANCIAL MATERIALS contain additional information about various projects. Additional materials about Food Stamps and WIC are in in SERIES VIII. FOOD AND HUNGER. Related materials can be found in SERIES XII. HOUSING, SERIES XI. HOMELESSNESS, and SERIES XVIII. POVERTY/ECONOMIC JUSTICE.

This series contains a small collection of photographs of Arise members and activities. Most are unlabeled and undated.

Researchers must sign an access agreement form before viewing these files.

Restricted materials include information about Arise's financial donors; case files for individuals helped through Arise's Citizen Advocacy program; records on individuals who worked with Arise as part of their Community Service; and intake and referral forms for food, clothes, and shelter.

Oversize materials include posters, newsletters, clippings, and other materials.