Phyllis remained politically active throughout the rest of her life, including her last campaign, which made a public lake in Newton, Massachusetts, handicap accessible after she developed multiple sclerosis.
The Stayouts began as a way to demonstrate how empty certain public schools in Boston would be if all of the non-white students did not show up.
[4] Ryan, her husband William, and Hubie Jones, another social activist in Boston, created the 'Should Dukakis Be Governor?'
The committee sought to raise awareness of and opposition to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's cuts to welfare funding in 1975.
[7][8] In 1972, the Senate Finance Committee amended a welfare reform bill that passed through the United States House of Representatives and added a clause that would require welfare recipients to work on Federal projects in order to continue to receive Federal aid.
Ryan, a member of the Committee Against Bogus Welfare Reform, spoke out against the bill for requiring work with no guaranteed minimum wage from those who are already in need.