Press Release: December 6, 2007
Contact:  Liz Marsis (401) 728-5555

Pawtucket, RI — The George Wiley Center’s successful program, “Empowering Women for Socio-Economic Justice” has been refunded for a second year through a $7,500 grant from the Women’s Fund. Designed to provide the facts, encouragement and practice needed for women to speak out with confidence against poor treatment, the training focuses on issues of appeals processes, just rulings and rights under the law with regard to government sponsored human services programs and household utilities. Evening trainings will be conducted in Woonsocket beginning in January and in other areas around the state in the spring.

With 32% of Rhode Island’s population classified as low-income (living at or below 200% of federal poverty) the program is needed to ensure that the assistance programs designed to provide a vital safety net are effective. Knowing the program rules and regulations is an important aspect of guarding rights, which are violated frequently in the stress of fund shortages, heavy caseloads and even management philosophies that sometimes are at odds with benefit delivery. Equally important, is the group’s training in organizing and citizen lobbying. The sad truth is that even when people take the right steps, the rules are unfair and the hearing process typically is unresponsive.

The George Wiley Center receives hundreds of calls from individuals who suffer through utility shut-offs without ever being told by the state agencies what steps they could have taken to have their special circumstances taken into account. Over a dozen callers have participated in the pilot empowerment training program. The trained and empowered woman advocates tested the limits of the new energy forgiveness plan in several cases, plus they had six successes this year in winning emergency restorations of service in medical cases.

The success of the empowered women advocates attracted the attention of the Division of Public Utilities, who responded this fall in Docket 3876 on rule changes by proposing to ban non-lawyer advocates from Formal Hearings and to prevent appeals to the Public Utilities Commissioners in cases of medical emergencies. The Wiley Center organized a large public response over the rule changes and final decisions on the new rules are pending.

Clearly, there is a lot work to do in order to change a broken system of utility protections. George Wiley Center trainings to empower women who are treated unfairly by the system provides the women with the facts and figures and know how to present their case to the public and fight for changes. The trainings consist of 20 hours in a community setting (with refreshments and daycare upon request provided) and include topics such as “Family Independence Program Rules,” “Overcoming the Fear Public Speaking,” “How to Organize People,” “Telling Our Stories to the Press,” “Citizen Lobbying” and “Filing for a Hearing at the Division of Public Utilities.”

After attending the trainings, participants will pair-up with an experienced activist to gain confidence using their new skills to support themselves and others at DHS offices, Division of Public Utility appeals, legislative hearings and at protests that take their message of change to the large community and to the decision-makers of public policy.

Any woman interested in more information about the George Wiley Center’s “Empowering Women for Socio-Economic Justice” program is encouraged to contact Liz Marsis at the George Wiley Center (728-5555). Participation in the program is free.