LEWISTON – Cheri Honkala will present “Ending Poverty with Economic Human Rights in Maine” in Lewiston and other Maine communities during the week of April 2.

Honkala, a former homeless single mother, is national coordinator of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

On Tuesday, April 7, she will speak at noon at the Lewiston Public Library, and again from 6 to 8 p.m. at the B-Street Community Center, 57 Birch St., with Visible Community and other low-income groups. Both events are free and open to the public.

An anti-poverty organizer and housing rights activist, Honkala has been a leader of demonstrations against policies that maintain poverty, including dozens of arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience, and has been profiled in several films on poor people’s movements against poverty.

She helped found the Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia and has spoken to Congress, at the United Nations and the Hague Appeal for Peace in the Netherlands, and to the American Civil Liberties Union, among other groups.

“Just as we have a right to free speech, to practice our religion, to trial by jury, and to other political rights, the right to participate actively in our economy and to have our basic needs met ought to be a right as well,” said Larry Dansinger of Monroe, who is a coordinator of Honkala’s week-long tour.

“If we want to end poverty and make sure every human has a decent life, we must work for economic rights for all,” he said.

For more information about the tour and a schedule of presentations in Orono, Brewer, Augusta and Portland, contact Dansinger at 525-7776. To view a schedule, visit www.peacebreadjustice.org.

Copy the Story Link