Michelle Little, Young Activist Leader and PJALS intern, with her kids
Michelle Little grew up in Omak, WA, and is the mother of three children, ages 7, 4, and 2. Michelle decided to get a degree in social work so she can change people’s views on social workers, due to her own previous negative experiences with social workers.
At first, she was interested in working in corrections or chemical dependency. After learning about macro-level social work in one of her classes, Michelle realized that she wanted to make a bigger difference and work on a larger scale. The major turning point for her was when she went to Olympia to lobby for healthcare. She realized that one change can make a larger difference when made on the macro level, whether that is from policy changes or advocacy work.
Liz Moore’s talk with the social work classes about the organization sparked Michelle’s interest in PJALS. She liked the idea that at PJALS we can be ourselves and not have to conform to what others want. Michelle was interested in economic justice, police accountability and the Bring Our Billions Home campaign.
Michelle’s most memorable moment at PJALS was when she attended Col. Ann Wright’s speech about Palestine and Israel. It made her really think about what was really going on over there; she has even started doing her own research on the situation.
After Michelle gets her BSW, she would like to work on the Masters in Social Work and Masters in Public Administration dual degrees at EWU and work to make larger societal changes.