The Negro Welfare League was one of five Relief Agencies of the Negro Welfare, which was founded and created by Earth M.M. White. In the novel Passing, Irene is eager to tell Clare about her involvement and organization of the Negro Welfare League dance committee that she is apart of. Her association with this a black woman and a mother are substantial because it was the standard for a woman of color, of a certain class to be apart of events such as these. Planning events was apart of her image as a wife and she had to retail’s and hold onto the black community because it was the only place where she could be accepted, although she does pass as white. As a housewife, Irene doesn’t have much to do besides taking care of her sons and the household, so she uses the time that she has to socialize within the black community and make new acquaintances.