Stephen Monroe Tomczak is “Professor Zak” to his friends, including his fellow Mothers and Others for Justice members. Before Professor Zak started coming to the meetings, the organization was known as Mothers for Justice. He was the first “other” to join the crew and was amazed at the acceptance he received.

“I’m a white, male, middle-class college professor, but they recognized that I was genuine. I can’t describe how profound it was to be welcomed by these women,” says Zak, a professor of social work at Southern Connecticut State University. In the decades that he’s been part of MOFJ, he’s participated in demonstrations in New Haven and Hartford with the women he now calls “sisters in the struggle.”

Zak was drawn to MOFJ because of his scholarly interest in the welfare rights movement of the 1960s and 70s. “This is a continuation of that movement,” he says.

He has seen MOFJ grow in influence and power. Leaders have emerged in the group who are “amazing individuals who can inspire others,” he explains. The current political climate intensifies the need for groups like MOFJ that can advocate for economic justice and human rights, he says, and Zak looks forward to activism around the benefits cliff that punishes families for hard work.

Though opposition to social progress is particularly strong right now, Zak believes that MOFJ is a powerful force defending human rights. “The power that this group has been able to wield, both amongst themselves and externally in the legislative process, is extremely impressive,” he says.