Happy year of the snake! Washington is one of only a handful of states that recognize Lunar New Year as a state holiday. We live in a wonderfully diverse state that has made meaningful investments in early learning, innovative and cost-effective approaches to serving low income Medicaid consumers, and new and sustainable community facilities. Just this month, we completed our fifth and final early learning facility project at Seola Gardens (funded by state capital budget funds). And while there is much to celebrate – there is so much more to do. Below are a few of the advocacy priorities we’ll be working on during this legislative session.
Investing in community driven approaches to eliminating poverty. Neighborhood House is part of a national network of Community Action Agencies (CAA), that have been fighting poverty since the Civil Rights Movement. We, along with 30 other CAAs in every county in Washington, receive a modest amount of federal Community Services Block Grant funding and Washington State partially matches that. These flexible funds allow us to meet varying community needs throughout Washington – and at Neighborhood House, these flexible funds support our youth development and citizenship efforts. Our network is requesting $15.5 million for the biennium to support CAAs throughout Washington. Other CAAs you may have heard of in King County include: Solid Ground, Hopelink, Byrd Barr Place, El Centro de la Raza, and Multiservice Center.
Creating a statewide infrastructure to support high-quality youth development programming. The 2025 OSPI Budget Request includes $20 Million for Youth Development over 2 years. This is a huge leap forward in our efforts to advocate for significant and sustainable funding for the field. School age youth spend 80% of their waking hours outside of school. Yet most kids in King County don’t have access to positive youth development programs. For every student in an afterschool program, there are 5 waiting to get in. High quality youth development programs positively impact young people’s academic achievement, social skills, and risk reduction. They can also help youth feel connected to their community and contribute to society.
Stabilize rent so that rent/fees cannot increase by more than 7%. Excessive rent increases are driving people out of their homes and communities while increasing homelessness. Annual rent and fee increases should be limited to no more than 7% for existing tenants and manufactured homeowners. This will provide stability and still allow landlords to make repairs, keep up with costs, and make a profit.
Backfill the Document Recording Fees (DRF). To prevent cuts, the state must backfill the ongoing shortfall in funding for homelessness services. Up to $253 million is needed to make up a shortfall caused by a lag in document recording revenue that funds homelessness services in every county. The operating budget should include at least this amount to prevent any reduction in homelessness services including shelters, emergency housing supports, youth and young adult services, and more.
End the sale of flavored tobacco products, which are fueling the youth nicotine addiction crisis in our state. Flavored nicotine products, especially Juul, fueled a youth e-cigarette epidemic over the last decade. Today, over 1.6 million kids nationally use e-cigarettes. In Washington, 7.6% of 10th grade students have used an e-cigarette in the last 30 days. Kids are not just experimenting, but becoming addicted to these sweet, nicotine-loaded products. Many e-cigarettes can contain as much or more nicotine as a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Washington faces a $10-12 billion funding shortfall putting many of our state’s critical programs at risk. At the same time, our state has the second most regressive tax system in the nation with low-wage workers paying three times more of their income in local taxes than their wealthy neighbors. In addition to the above priority and support agenda policies, Neighborhood House supports progressive, long-term revenue sources to fund the housing, education, and healthcare that Washingtonians all depend on.
Join us in advocating for these policies – contact your representative today!
https://wapartnership.org/legislative-priorities
https://schoolsoutwashington.org/facts-stats
