Connecticut Public Interest Research Group Education Fund (ConnPIRG Education Fund)

History

ConnPIRG Education Fund was established in 1997, when it received charitable nonprofit status as the policy-education affiliate of the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group. ¹ It operates alongside other ConnPIRG branches and is part of the larger U.S. PIRG network. ²

While ConnPIRG’s student chapters date back to 1973, when University of Connecticut students first voted to dedicate a mandatory student fee to support PIRG activities, the Education Fund itself was formally created two decades later to focus on research, public education, and fostering civic participation on issues like consumer protection, environmental reform, and healthcare. ³

ConnPIRG Citizen Lobby, the 501(c)(4) sister organization to ConnPIRG Education Fund, is a subordinate organization under Environment America. Environment America is a left-of-center 501(c)(4) advocacy group comprised of multiple state organizations across the country that lobby for weather-dependent energy sources such as wind and solar and oppose the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ⁴

Advocacy

The ConnPIRG Education Fund conducts consumer-protection advocacy. ⁵ A flagship initiative is its annual “Trouble in Toyland” consumer safety report, which scrutinizes popular children’s toys for hazardous chemicals like lead, chromium, and phthalates. ⁶ These studies, usually timed around the holiday season, have resulted in recalls and prompted safety regulations. ⁷

ConnPIRG has aided grassroots campaigns like the “Sooty Six” effort, which targeted emissions from Connecticut power plants, ultimately contributing to one of the nation’s first-ever laws restricting carbon emissions from these facilities. ⁸

Controversies

In 2007, a decision was made by the Connecticut Office of State Ethics that found ConnPIRG and its representative Christopher Phelps to have violated state ethics law by failing to file a required lobbying financial report before its deadline. Despite a warning letter giving them until August 31 to correct the oversight, the report was filed 64 days late, on September 13. The Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board determined that the delay warranted a civil penalty of $640. Although Phelps claimed the error was an innocent mistake, the Office upheld the full penalty and ordered future compliance. ⁹

Further, the Public Interest Network, the organization of which ConnPIRG is a subsidiary, has been criticized in the past for poor labor practices, being dubbed as “the Liberal Sweatshop” by journalist Luke Rosiak for the Daily Beast. ¹⁰

Leadership

Faye Park has been the president of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US-PIRG) since 2018. Park is also the executive vice president of Public Interest Network, the media outreach wing of the PIRG. Prior to these roles, Park was the organizing director of CALPIRG, the California state affiliate of the larger US-PIRG. ¹¹

Emily Rusch has been both the vice president and senior director for state organizations at The Public Interest Network as well as the senior director for state organizations at PIRG since 2021. From 2009 until 2021, Rusch served as the executive director of CALPIRG. ¹²