Gratitude & Love & Liberation in a time of so much grief

POOR Magazine family and extended family outside of Roxie Theatre where our Movie Medicine Crushing Wheelchairs was premiered (on the sacred red "bathmat")

Dear family and community:

This has been a year of deep grief, fear, and pain. The antidote is solidarity and radical interdependence – the medicine of POOR Magazine and poverty scholarship. 

POOR Magazine has changed the way that many of us move through the world, including me. I have been part of POOR Magazine's Solidarity Family since 2021. Because of POOR, I know I have a role in radically redistributing resources and caring for my family. The teachings of POOR Magazine’s PeoplesKool and DeeColonize Academy reconnect me with the values and practices of my poverty scholar ancestors.

I have been called to elder care and caregiving as a practice rooted in my poverty scholarship. We cannot leave our disabled, chronically ill elders and community members behind. We cannot ignore our responsibility to those who gave us life. POOR Magazine helps me listen for ancestral wisdom that has been hidden through colonization, the "American Dream" and assimilation. I am learning to do love and care work, with my elders and my mom, through all the pain and trauma and avoidance. This work is not easy on the body or mind, but it is the revolutionary love work that the world needs. The loss of Uncle Broken Cloud, Homefulness resident and recent ancestor, reminded me of this.

As a teacher at DeeColonize Academy for four years, I am constantly awed and humbled by the way this school raises young revolutionaries. By witnessing their joy and love for community, I am experiencing this healing medicine and learning from the voices of poverty scholars. DeeColonize Academy students learn art, storytelling, poor people's media, civics, danza azteca, Kemet, math, animal stewardship, science for mama earth and so much more! The work is not easy -- the trauma of poverty is very real for our families and youth in struggle. But because of DeeColonize Academy, our next generation of youth poverty scholars know that Palestine should be free, that no one is illegal on stolen land, and that houseless people have real, liberated land solutions like Homefulness.

None of this work can happen without the support of our powerful, revolutionary radical redistributors and donors. Your dollars helped provide fresh produce at Sliding Scale Cafe, which fed the BlackArthur community when SNAP payments fell through. Your dollars keep DeeColonize Academy alive. Your dollars led to the powerful premiere of the Crushing Wheelchairs film. Thank you for helping sustain the movement!

Every day, more people are evicted and more tent communities are destroyed. We need the medicine of Homefulness to continue building housing for houseless families, elders and youth -- from fulfilling the dream of 14 units  at Homefulness 2, to building the decades-old dream of Homefulness Yelamu, to making Homefulness Tovaangar a reality. We need to keep liberating and protecting land across Turtle Island.

As Tiny says often, “We are in an emergency. Poor people are facing constant attacks on their homes, their stability and their safety”. We need each other: poor and privileged alike need to be interdependent as we build our liberated future. I ask that you be part of the solution by sending your love and resources to POOR Magazine. 

Lots of love,

Maya & the POOR Magazine Family

2025 has been unbelievably challenging for POOR Magazine. And yet, the work always continues in powerful ways, guided by the ancestors to support the vision of a poor people-led movement. Here are some 2025 highlights:

• We moved our 25th resident into HOMEFULNESS #1

• DEECOLONIZE ACADEMY is in our 12th year with 10 enrolled students

• 14h year of SLIDING SCALE CAFÉ,/Mercadito de cambio  a radical redistribution (mutual aid) of healthy food groceries, diapers & media, support for deep East Oakland every Thursday

• Continued in-person People Skool for East Oakland poverty skolaz with Theatre of the Poor and Po Peoples Radio workshop series

• UnTourBook Across Occupied Turtle Island: Klanmarks, Manuments, and Plakkks was released on Poor Press (www.poorpress.net) in February 2025. 

• Listen to PNNKEXU 96.1FM every Tuesday, Wednesday  & Thursday for multi- generational radio programming: We r All Connected, The Peoples Botánica, Dr. Sweets Critique, & In the Spirit of Nat Turner. 

• We had two annual People Skool Decolonization/DegentriFUKation Seminars on Zoom. Next People Skool Seminar is January 31st & February 1st, 2026 (www.poormagazine.org/education) 

Liberation Easement

Mama Earth is NOT for Sale! This summer, POOR Magazine in collaboration with First Nations Peoples of this land created a HERstoric document, called a liberation easement, to decommodify a small part of Mama Earth in Huchiun (Oakland). This was done alongside Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and with the legal support and solidarity work of the Sustainable Economies Law Center.

Crushing Wheelchairs movie

The original narrative film, Crushing Wheelchairs, premiered this year across the Bay Area in tent communities and movie theaters. With an all houseless cast, the movie premiered in SF, Vallejo and will be in Oakland on 12/6. Stay connected to attend future screenings!

Updates on the Building of Homefulness #2

This year, POOR Magazine successfully set up two container home units with solar power. We need your support in purchasing 12 more container homes to create 14 units to house unhoused elders, youth and families in the next year. Please share any resources you have!

Mamafesting the Dream of Homefulness Yelamu

Elephant and Elders Councils have met and are working to MamaFest Homefulness Yelamu, a 28+ year dream. With the support of Solidarity Family, we have raised resources and continued the search for possible sites. A powerful performance on May 10th, Po Mamaz Build Homes with Poems, highlighted the stories and dreams of poor mamaz and families. We are still working to raise the resources needed to acquire and UnSell Mama Earth – BIG news to come! Please stay tuned…

Ancestors and Relatives Working towards Homefulness Tovaangar

Houseless relatives with Aetna Street Solidarity, POOR Magazine Tovaangar and Reclaiming Our Homes have formed their own Elephant Council and have made two important decisions along with so much art, theatre and liberation. They are now in the planning and visioning stage to mamafest this dream. Your radical redistribution can make this happen!