In the '60s and '70s, a group of Las Vegas women led by Ruby Duncan worked to change the welfare system and improve the lives of low-income families in Nevada.

A new documentary explores those efforts.

That's this week on Nevada Week .

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week .

I'm Maria Silva in for Amber Renee Dixon, who is on maternity leave.

Thanks so much for joining us.

Well, in the '70s, Las Vegas became ground zero for the fight to improve the welfare system.

The new film Storming Caesars Palace tells that story.

The film will premiere on Vegas PBS on March 20.

We partnered with Independent Lens; the director, Hazel Gurlad-Pooler; Make It Work Nevada; the Library District; and several other community partners for a screening followed by a panel discussion.

Ahead of that very special screening, I had the honor of sitting down with welfare rights activist and the subject of the film, Miss Ruby Duncan.

(Ruby Duncan) When a child is starving, when they have no good housing, it's what makes me angry.

- Storming Caesars Palace tells the inspirational story of a group of determined mothers from West Las Vegas.

-You know mothers will do anything for their children.

-Mothers who became advocates for their children and for welfare rights.

-You gotta be strong.

Don't take no for an answer.

-Not taking no for an answer, they took their fight to the Las Vegas Strip.

-Something has got to happen.

We have to hit the Strip.

♪♪♪ (Reporter) A thousand marchers flooded into Caesars Palace.

-They even took on the Mob.

(Gloria Steinem) It was outrageous, marching outside the organized crime owned places.

They don't take opposition lightly.

(Sondra) It's scary seeing the police handcuffing your mother, but I got used to it.

-If I tell you nobody, we were not afraid.

I wasn't afraid.

All I wanted them to know, we wanted them food stamps.

We wanted help.

We wanted everything we could get for low-income families and especially for women and children.

-The film centers around the life of the phenomenal Miss Ruby Duncan.

(Documentary) The Clark County Welfare Rights Organization agreed this fiery woman, Ruby Duncan, should become the president.

-Now 90 and-a-half years old, Miss Ruby still has that same fighting spirit she had more than 50 years ago.

-Now I'm asking a question for seniors.

We got poverty stricken seniors here in this town.

Poverty-- families, women and children, old folks.

Look at the homeless people.

We have no right to let people be hungry in this great United States of America.

It's a shame.

-Also a shame that this powerful movement is oftentimes forgotten.

(Documentary) Nevada officials have cut out of welfare more than 1,100 families.

Vegas then was the Mississippi of the West.

Nevada had the second lowest benefits in the country.

-Miss Ruby's compelling life story, immortalized in film, thanks in part to the tenacious spirit of Documentary Filmmaker Hazel Gurland-Pooler... (Hazel Gurland-Pooler) You always hear when Mama's coming.

[laughter] -...who also didn't take no for an answer.

Completing the film took 15 years.

-It's been important to me from the beginning to not, kind of, participate in exploitative journalism, where you're kind of taking from the community but not really making sure that, you know, you're accountable to the community and that people feel like you're representing them appropriately and fairly and accurately.

-While the film centers around Miss Ruby, Storming Caesars Palace also honors the other amazing mothers who became activists in their own right and fought right alongside Miss Ruby.

-I met with other women, other mothers, and Mary Wesley and Alverso Beals who are in the film, and other women like Emma Stampley and Essie Henderson and others who didn't end up in the film ultimately, partially because they passed away along the way.

And so, you know, Miss Duncan is sort of in there in some ways because she has lived the longest and was able to tell the story for herself, but also for all these other mothers.

-These kind, caring, and powerful mothers also became visionaries and savvy businesswomen, creating Operation Life in West Las Vegas, one of the first woman-led community corporations in the U.S. -You had childcare, you had healthcare, you had housing.

We built housing.

-They also set the foundation for other organizations continuing the good fight.

(Erika Washington) When they talk about what you want to be when you grow up, no one ever told me that I could advocate for and alongside and with black women for equity issues, including affordable childcare and equal pay.

-Erica Washington, Executive Director of Make It Work Nevada, recalls meeting Miss Ruby for the first time 15 years ago and admits she was starstruck.

-She has been a mentor.

And she has been, you know, so much for me, both in a professional way and in a personal way.

I can just call her and just say, I don't know how to do this work.

I don't feel like I'm doing it well.

I feel like, you know, we're not winning.

And she said, Well, we just gotta keep fighting, baby.

-To help honor Miss Ruby, hundreds showed up at the West Las Vegas Library Theatre for a very special screening of Storming Caesars Palace .

Inside the theater, sitting front and center, Miss Ruby Duncan, who got to experience the film on a big screen surrounded by her family and friends and the family members of some of the other mothers who are no longer with us.

[cheers and applause] -Following the film, a special question and answer session with Miss Ruby Duncan, Hazel, Erika, and Claytee White, Director of the Oral History Research Center at UNLV Libraries, who also has worked hard to make sure this important part of our history is well documented and not forgotten.

(Claytee White) Ruby was a leader when it wasn't popular and around a topic that wasn't popular at all.

And she led with dignity and with grace.

-You've seen this several times, Miss Ruby.

What goes through your mind when you see this film?

-I really want to cry sometimes, and then I laugh because I love to hear the feedback from all of the families.

I mean, it's just like I'm here with everybody that I was with during those days.

That's the way it feels, like everybody is still around me.

They were some great people.

-And if you think at 90 and-a-half Ms. Ruby is done being an activist, think again.

-I was part of the Jimmy Carter's, yeah, his White House Committee on Economics.

And on community and housing and low-income families and welfare mothers, I was his person.

-Just days before this special screening, Miss Ruby was back up in Carson City, meeting with Nevada legislators who got a special screening of the film.

And let's just say Miss Ruby made sure to give them a piece of her mind.

-Do you understand the power y'all got?

You go and work hard, and you going to get some people to agree with the needs of poor people, poor women and children.

Matter of fact, a adequate income.

A adequate income.

If you don't want to deal with his heirs, welfare recipient, with their moms, Social Security, all that bull, then I want you to think about an adequate income for every human being on earth.

-How do you want the world to remember Miss Ruby Duncan?

-Just a kind human being that wanted to make sure no one go hungry, no one go homeless, no one do not have great healthcare.

That's what I want to be known for.

Go vote.

Your whole life is in the hands of politicians.

But poor women that have children, us, we surprised a whole lot of people.

-The valiant efforts of these incredible women truly transformed the welfare system in Nevada.

But where do efforts to provide help to families in need, and especially women and children, stand today?

Joining us to talk about that are Maria Tucker, Executive Director of the Jeremiah Program; and Jollina Simpson, Grant and Policy Researcher for Make It Work Nevada.

Thank you both so much for joining us.

(Jollina Simpson) Thank you.

-Let's go ahead and start with your wonderful organizations.

Both of you doing great work here in Southern Nevada and Nevada.

Talk to us about Make It Work Nevada.

-Well, Make It Work Nevada is a organization that's been around since 2018 here in Nevada.

We were birthed, for lack of a better word, from the national organization.

And as we came into Nevada, it was important for us to focus on the needs of women, and especially on the needs of low income and black women and other women of color, who have been battling poverty and dealing with poverty for decades and decades.

So what we focus on are the needs of those women and those families.

-And what are some of those needs?

-Well, absolutely childcare is one of those needs.

Affordable childcare is often out of reach for families with two, three,or even four children.

Income equality.

Making sure that they're getting paid their worth and getting paid a living wage and not just minimum wage, right?

And healthcare and health needs of families as well.

So all of those things for us fall under "reproductive justice."

And reproductive justice is being able to have a child or have a family if you want one.

Or if you don't want, not to have one.

And of course, being able to live and thrive and raise that family in a way that is not only survival, but really an excellence of life.

-And I love the work you're doing here.

And I also am so excited that you're connecting because, Maria, the Jeremiah Program is something that is new to Southern Nevada.

You've been around for many years, but new to Southern Nevada.

Tell us about your organization and especially that two-generation approach.

(Maria Tucker) Thank you so much, Maria.

So we're the Jeremiah Program.

We've been in Las Vegas for six months.

We are in nine cities across the country, and this is the first in the West.

So we're excited to break that, kind of, ground here.

Jeremiah Program disrupts poverty, two generations at a time.

We use education as a lever, especially.

We pair mom with a coach, and we do several supports for the second generation, including extended childcare, tutoring, summer enrichment programs, just to name a few.

-And let's talk about what women-- You mentioned some of the things that our women are facing right now.

We talk about also the fact that some of those benefits, the SNAP benefits, were rolled back.

What kind of an impact is that having on these mothers and on these families?

-That's a huge impact.

Absolutely.

And one of the things that we learned from speaking to not only the parents in the community, but also the teachers in schools, is that when those benefits were in place during the pandemic, kids were coming to school well fed.

Kids were coming to school with appropriate clothing and coats and all of those things.

And now that this food money is going to be drawn out, what is going to happen to every other element in that child's life?

-And it's between $95 and $250.

And somebody might say: $95, that's not too much.

If you have it, but if you don't have it... And with the way things are right now, when you again, talk about inflation and the high cost of everything right now from food to eggs to milk to gas, it has a big impact.

-Yes.

In our coaching sessions with moms, we hear about that and the rollback and the impact that it's already having here in Nevada.

And they're concerned.

That's a huge-- that's a huge difference.

Like you said, to not have $100 that you had been counting on... Yep.

We've heard it from our moms.

-And let's talk a little bit about one thing that Miss Ruby says in the segment, as well as in, you know, in our panel discussion and in the film is the fact that you do have to hold the powers that be accountable, our legislators.

Right now the legislative session is in full swing.

What are you looking at?

What are you-- It's Child's Week up at the legislature.

What are some of the key bills that you're really keeping an eye on?

-Well, certainly we are looking across the board at anything that affects families.

But we're also looking at things that you wouldn't necessarily think are family oriented, like economic justice and, of course, environmental justice, making sure that our children are able to have a safe environment to grow up in and not fall ill based on the environment that they're around.

So the Green Amendment is one that we are looking at very closely.

And that's been enacted around the country, and it's being used to help impoverished communities and under resourced communities gain some sense of cover, if you will.

So I say "cover."

The Green Amendment is about trees and about making sure that communities do not, are not polluted.

So that's one of the ones that we're looking at.

We're looking at "Time For 20."

We're looking at Medicare-- or, sorry, medical coverage for, medical coverage for long-term subs.

And many other ones.

-Let's talk about Time For 20 a little bit.

Explain that one to us.

-So that is coming up through the teachers union, right?

Time For 20 means a cap of 20 kids per classroom.

Take some of that burden off of the teachers to be able to actually teach their craft.

It is a 20% pay raise for salary teachers and a $20 minimum for hourly workers.

So the nurse's aide who was there every single day, making sure kids are safe and well cared for is not making a living wage, and we want her to be able to make that living wage.

So those are some of the bills that we're watching.

-And Maria, how about you?

-Yeah.

So we're just getting started, as you know.

And we'll be looking at childcare related education, K through 12 related, as well as higher education impacts, as well as housing related bills, affordable housing related policies.

-As well.

Yeah.

-And the time is right.

-Exactly.

And let's go back to Storming Caesars Palace , this wonderful documentary, because again, I think it opens our eyes to the fact that the problems still exist.

And it also educates us on such an important part of our Nevada history.

Because growing up here in Southern Nevada, I did not know about this.

-Yes.

-And it's disheartening, and it made me really sad.

But then I thought we need to get the word out and what these women did.

Talk about the impact these women and this movement and Miss Ruby Duncan had on your life.

-Well, I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Duncan at Make It Work Nevada on my very first day.

She was going to a panel with, with a Senator, Cortez Masto.

And she was amazing.

And she still speaks in movement, right?

She still speaks to the people and says, You got to get out there and vote.

You have to be the one who makes that change.

You cannot expect that.

And so she speaks directly to the community, but at the same time, holding our legislators accountable.

And being able to walk into rooms and to hold those meetings and bring her entire community with her, that is the power of Dr. Duncan.

And I am amazed every single time I get to sit down and talk with her.

-She gently commands attention.

I love the fact that she says, "I'm 90 and-a-half," and she is still doing this.

And Senator Cortez Masto was at that screening.

-Yes, she was.

-And let's talk about you.

You are excited to meet her.

-Yes, very excited to meet her.

She's-- her name, Dr. Duncan's name, came up multiple times already since we've started to come into Las Vegas, as if to remind us that we stand on the shoulders of giants.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we may not have known their names before we got here, but now we do.

And their work has been incredible.

-And they set such a solid foundation that we can build upon.

But there's still a lot of work to do.

And something that also really struck me and it broke my heart as well during the film was the fact again, the challenges the single mothers were facing back then.

Some of them, you know, they're still facing those issues today.

A big one was, you know, the stereotypes of the welfare, you know, queen, that they're taking advantage of the system.

Not the case.

-Not at all.

And that was a complete fabrication from the Reagan administration.

So when we think of how long that narrative has lasted and how much it's grown, we have still a long way to go.

But when it comes down to the work that Operation Life did?

Amazing!

Being able to serve the families and the children, but also to put those closest to the problem in charge of solving that problem, that is an amazing thing that they did.

And I can't wait.

I can't wait to see something like that again.

-And Miss Ruby Duncan did mention that during the Q&A and during our interview, that she would love to see that program come back to Southern Nevada, because it-- Again, to have a one-stop shop there for these families in need was beautiful.

-It really was.

And to that point, one of the things that the higher-ups complained about was the education of these women, how could they have possibly done this?

But that education is what they learned by keeping their families afloat.

And that's how they learned to stretch a penny.

That's how they learned to budget and they learned to be accountable to one another.

And that's really-- -And that's what they said.

Because when you watch the documentary, you'll see a lot of these women had an elementary school education.

And to see what they accomplished is truly amazing.

-Absolutely.

-And let's talk a little bit about we mention again, the shame that, you know, sometimes people feel when they have to go ask for these services.

And that's another big component of your education.

-Yes.

So we start all the moms in an empowerment and leadership course.

And part of that is to demystify that shame and to really have them stand in their power because we believe they, the moms themselves, deserve a seat at the table.

And so our empowerment and leadership is that first step towards that.

-And let's talk about we've mentioned the SNAP benefits being rolled back.

And just going back real quick to that, there was a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

And it said, just rolling that back, that actually kept 4.2 million people above the poverty line in the last quarter of just 2021, and it reduced poverty by 10% and child poverty by 14%.

When we hear those numbers, we think, what's the problem?

Why?

I mean, it's right there.

It's telling you how it's helping, and then they're being rolled back.

We talked about the expanded Child Tax Credit, keeping a close eye on that as well.

That was also stopped.

What's next with that?

-Well, unfortunately, what's next is that families are going to have to fight, right?

Because nothing is ever given; everything is fought for.

So when we think about SNAP benefits and so many families being affected by that, it is time to rally.

It is time to tell our elected officials that this is not acceptable.

And there is always money out there.

It's there, but whether it's allocated and put towards the needs of families is a completely different story.

So what we need to do is take those who are being most affected and saying you have the right to fight for this and putting them in the rooms and using that leadership, using that knowledge to get them where they need to be to survive and to make great strides for their family.

-And that's what Miss Ruby Duncan and these incredible women did back in the '60s and '70s.

-The fight is not over.

-The fight is not over.

And again, the fact that you are empowering women, women of color, let's talk a little bit about some of the other programs that you have, because you were just in Austin, correct?

-We were just in Austin for our first in-person Summit, which was 300 moms.

And they were current moms and graduates, as well as our Board and friends of JP.

We launched our first Spark Tank, which 45 women put forward their business ideas.

We were able to distribute $20,000 to early entrepreneurs.

We call them "mompreneurs."

-Oh, I love that we are empowering women.

And another great thing that I love that we saw at this screening is so many community partners.

We talk again, it takes a village.

It really, really does.

We can't say that enough.

Some of those organizations will be heading up to Carson City this week.

-Absolutely.

So Make It Work Nevada understands that it absolutely takes the whole community to make this work.

So when we collaborate with our community partners, when it's PLAN or the National Woman's Organization or any other of our partners, we understand that it has to be an across-the-board championship, right?

We have to bring everybody into the room, because there is going to be a voice.

There's going to be a story.

There is going to be that one person who connects with the lawmakers to make them really see like, Oh, I get that.

I understand that now.

And so when we bring all of our community partners together, we are wanting to make a broad reach, a great big safety net, so families don't fall through.

And whether that is for paid sick leave, for child care, any of those things, we count on our network and we count on our coalitions to support all of these fights as we support them in their realms as well.

-Thank you both for continuing the good fight.

And I know, real quick, both of you always also looking for volunteers, right?

-Absolutely.

-They are such an important part of any organization.

-Absolutely.

Make It Work Nevada is always seeking volunteers, and we're talking kids all the way up to Dr. Ruby Duncan, right, to 90 and a half.

-Yeah.

-So as we search for that-- because the SNAP benefits aren't only affecting children, they're also affecting seniors.

And so we need everybody from Great-Grandma all the way down to baby.

-Likewise.

-Thank you both, and I can't wait for both of you to connect and do great work here in Southern Nevada.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you, Maria.

-And thank you at home for joining us this week for Nevada Week .

For any of the resources discussed, go to vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

And a reminder, you can watch Storming Caesars Palace .

You do not want to miss this on Monday, March 20 at 10 p.m. right here on Vegas PBS.

Before we leave you, at that very special screening of the film we caught up with some of the people who know Miss Ruby best, including Michael Flores who championed to have a school named after her.

This year Ruby Duncan Elementary, home of the dream keepers, fitting name, is celebrating 13 years.

(Michael Flores) Oh, she is a second mom to me.

She was a mom to this community, and then I met Ruby and fell in love with her.

And I was like, everybody should have the ability to meet and know Ruby.

And having a school and now a movie to remember her legacy, you know, I couldn't think of anything better.

(Derek Washington) Hi, I'm Derek Washington.

I am chairman of the Black Democratic Empowerment Project in Southern Nevada.

Miss Ruby is my fairy godmother.

The reason I found out that I loved her so much is because she told me a story about how they kidnapped the head of the Welfare Department and wouldn't let him go home on a Friday, until he did what they wanted them to do, and which was respect the moms of the Westside, respect the poor moms, respect the welfare moms, and respect their families.

And he didn't go home until he showed that respect.

That's why I love Miss Ruby.

(Laura Martin) Hello, my name is Laura Martin.

I'm the Executive Director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

Miss Ruby, you are such an inspiration to me and to PLAN, and thank you for showing that black women, we can be unapologetic leaders, organizers, and activists.

And the work continues because you have laid the path for us.

Thank you.

(Renee Diamond) Renee Diamond is my name.

I was lucky to be with all the women.

So I was-- I came to Nevada in February of 1972.

And by '73, I was secretary-treasurer of Operation Life in the old Cove Hotel in the hot summers and watched the kids grow up.

Ruby was an inspiration to me.

We went to San Francisco to HUD, got Ruby Duncan Manor started, we got the WIC clinic started, and it was my pleasure to be part of it.

Now we're old ladies together.

We still talk.

Our birthdays are two, two days apart, but a few years apart.

I wish Ruby the best, and I loved the film.

The film was amazing.

♪♪♪