WISE began in 2003 as one woman's vision, to make a difference in the  
lives of low-income women like herself. Over the next four years,  
WISE gathered homeless and other women in poverty into its fold and  
grew into a national movement. In 2006, with the aid of the second of  
two grants received from Status of Women Canada (SWC), local WISE  
groups began to form in BC communities and the seeds of others began  
sprinkling nation-wide.

Striving to make a difference in our own lives and the lives of  
others, often at considerable personal risk, WISE women gained  
national and international recognition and respect.

We raised our voices. We said things and presented findings which  
academics, bureaucrats, and poverty activists had not known; ignored  
as irrelevant, such as our lived experience; or derided due to the  
unfounded belief that we lacked expertise when it came to poverty  
issues. The contributions of WISE women pushed others within and  
outside the poverty movement to re-examine their assumptions about:  
women who live in society's fringes; solutions to poverty and poverty- 
related issues, such as housing; and the real needs of many low- 
income women. The priority of needs is not, from our perspective,  
what most of the purported experts have taken as obvious.

Staying in touch with one another has been difficult for WISE women.  
This is not least due to many of us not having phones or the means to  
connect via the Internet, and because of the precariousness of living  
on a very low income which makes the stability of our housing, well,  
unstable.

These problems can be offset if organized groups of marginalized  
women - and men - receive funding support to do the work that they  
identify as crucial. This is what Status of Women Canada did for  
WISE. With two grants, the only grants we received during the four  
years of our existence, SWC helped us exceed our wildest expectations  
and push boundaries hitherto unassailable.

One unexpected outcome of our first project was the highly acclaimed  
book "Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the  
Front," published by WISE in 2005. The book has been purchased widely  
in Canada by public and university libraries; academics; health  
professionals and local and regional health authorities; service  
providers; politicians and political parties; government departments,  
agencies and public institutions; women's resource centres; and has  
been made available to other low-income women. Additional orders have  
come from Australia, Japan, the UK, and the USA. With our second SWC  
grant, we expanded on a key recommendation from our book: to reach  
out to other low-income women. That project also far exceeded  
expectations.

Now there's a question as to whether WISE can survive beyond this  
month, when our second SWC grant expires.

Thanks to changes to SWC made in the Fall of 2006 by the Harper  
government, WISE and all other unincorporated women's groups - almost  
exclusively run by marginalized women - are no longer eligible for  
SWC grants.

For WISE, this means we must immediately change the way we do things.

Our ability to maintain our website, electronic communications, and  
to retain our key organizers will depend on the continued sales of  
our book, associate membership fees, donations under the WISE Friends  
Program and, crucially, contracts with other organizations to share  
our expert knowledge.

In other words, we are hoping that the women who have been most  
active with WISE can continue their activities, but on a consultancy  
basis. They will provide leadership, training, and peer support for  
other low-income women who want to make a difference in their  
communities; and will share their expert knowledge with health and  
social service professionals, and with anyone else who wants to learn  
from low-income women about poverty and its solutions.

In essence, WISE is transitioning into a coalition of PAID  
independent poverty consultants, all of whom will be low-income  
women. We can no longer offer our services for free.

Non-profit organizations that want to include WISE events in their  
communities will have to obtain the funding themselves, to pay our  
professional fees and expenses. Since WISE offers a service that has  
been proven to change women's lives, finding non-profits that want to  
hire WISE consultants or facilitators isn't the issue; it's whether  
any organizations can offer us work in time, before WISE must fold  
due to lack of money. The funding cycle is not in our favour.  
However, we're hopeful that, in addition to non-profits, some public  
institutions and for-profit or professional organizations will seek  
our expertise.

WISE, as it has existed over the past four years is, therefore,  
shutting down effective December 15, 2007. We have cancelled our  
phone service to reduce expenses and will cancel our post office box  
if we do not receive sufficient funds before its renewal comes due  
January 30th.

Will we survive? That has a lot to do with timing, but we are forever  
hopeful. Our history has proven us capable of pushing the boundaries  
of what low-income women have been expected to achieve.

RELATED:
Presentation by Chrystal Ocean to the Hon. Bev Oda, former Minister  
of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women.
http://www.wise-bc.org/PDF/WISE_to_BevOda_Mar0307.pdf

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FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT
-------------------------------------
Chrystal Ocean, Coordinator.
Wellbeing thru Inclusion Socially & Economically
http://www.wise-bc.org/
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