ESPC History

In the mid-1980s, several grassroots membership organizations created an informal coalition called the Wyoming Alliance for Accountable Government. As its name suggests, the Alliance focused primarily on working for open, accountable state government – a government accessible to citizen input regardless of the issue involved.

The informal coalition work proved so valuable that the coalition was established as the Equality State Policy Center in 1993. The new ESPC began trial policy initiatives to democratize the legislative process and foster greater citizen participation. The ESPC’s board made a commitment to permanence and growth in 1998 by hiring a full-time executive director. This was followed by the ESPC’s first biennial retreat the following April, where the coalition adopted a mission statement and program of work designed to build its capacity and programs.

Over the next two years, ESPC exceeded all expectations in its meteoric emergence as Wyoming’s “good government watchdog,” as dubbed by the media, and the state’s primary agent for change with “staying power and conviction,” as described by the coal industry.

Since then, the ESPC coalition has grown to 30 grassroots organizations, including conservation and sporting groups, labor unions, professional organizations, and civil and social justice groups. The ESPC board has expanded the coalition’s work into three main program areas: accountable government, tax and fiscal policy, and Wyoming Working Families.

The ESPC also provides training for citizen activists and conducts voter education and mobilization projects among historically un- and under-represented constituencies.

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