Washington, D.C. – Monday, June 22, 2009 – Women In Government (WIG) will launch the new Family Economic Success (FES) Resource Center today. The Resource Center is dedicated to connecting female state legislators to policy resources that support financial stability for low- and moderate-income, working families. It is one of two new resource centers being launched this summer—the other is focused on rheumatoid arthritis.
“The Family Economic Success Resource Center allows Women In Government to expand its research portfolio to better match the needs of our legislative members. Current economic problems in the states increase concerns for the well-being of America’s working families” said Mary Brooks Beatty, President of Women In Government. “We are very excited to be at the forefront of the policy discussion on issues that disproportionately impact low-income, working families. Through the FES Resource Center we hope to encourage state policy makers to pass legislation aimed at helping people overcome the economic, social, and policy barriers to achieving financial stability.”
The Resource Center aims to stimulate legislative interest and action in FES issues and encourages policy makers to sponsor and co-sponsor legislation in their own states. The FES portfolio includes: asset building and financial literacy, earned income tax credit, home mortgages and foreclosures, pay disparity, predatory and payday lending, and workforce development. Online resources include a legislative toolkit, quarterly newsletter, sample state legislation, policy research, and profiles of state legislators who have been champions on family economic success issues for the past several years.
Families with children that are below the poverty level are at the heart of Women In Government’s efforts. In 2007, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty were 9.8% and 7.6 million, respectively, both statistically unchanged from 2006. As noted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, children in the greatest trouble in America are those growing up in poor households and in economically disconnected communities. The FES Resource Center shares in the Foundation’s approach to strengthening low-income families and isolated communities through asset building, family economic support programs, and workforce development.
The launch of the Resource Center comes one year after the convening of the FES Task Force, in Pinehurst, North Carolina, where 16 legislators representing 11 states participated in creating FES policy recommendations. WIG has been actively researching FES issues and providing related resources to its members since 2003 when it partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to host the first Task Force, Economic Empowerment for Low-Income and Working Families.
Since 2003, WIG has worked with the Foundation to ensure that FES issues were presented to women state legislators in diverse ways by hosting seminars, featuring FES issues in its publications, highlighting FES issues on its regional conference agendas, and developing close partnerships with other organizations.
The FES Resource Center can be accessed from WIG’s homepage, http://www.womeningovernment.org, or directly from http://www.womeningovernment.org/familysuccess.
About Women In Government
Women In Government is a national, non-profit, bi-partisan organization of women state legislators providing leadership opportunities, networking, expert forums and educational resources to address and resolve complex public policy issues. For more information, visit www.womeningovernment.org.
