2020 GM

December 17, 2020 State Legislative Preview Meeting

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Agenda 9:00-9:20             Welcome and Intro to State Legislative Advocacy 9:20-10:05           Legislative Priorities from our Statewide Advocacy Partners 10:05-10:30         Lawmaker Insights with State Senator Patty Kuderer and Representative Nicole Macri 10:30-11:00         Special Musical Guest Reggie Garrett State Legislative Advocacy Basics The first step in advocating on the state level is knowing who represents your community in Olympia. Washington state is divided into 49 legislative districts, which elect one senator to the State Senate and two representatives to the State House. You can use this link to look up your legislators: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ To look up your state legislative district and state legislators: Visit app.wa.leg.gov/districtfinder Enter your home address and click “Find My District”. If you do not have a traditional home address, enter a mailing address, or a cross street, shelter address, or park address. This determines who represents you. Make sure that under “District Type”, “Legislative” is selected. This will show you your legislative district (usually a number) and your Washington state senators and representatives. Make a note of your legislative district number. If you haven’t already, rename yourself with your legislative district in front of your name! Make a note of the names of your legislators! Bonus points if you click on your legislators’ names to learn more about them, including what committees they are part of and what bills they’ve sponsored Extra, extra bonus points if you add their contact information to your rolodex! Participating in Virtual Legislative Advocacy With the legislature meeting remotely this year, advocacy will happen remotely as well. Opportunities to connect with lawmakers will happen in the communities we live, which means your program or agency can play an important part in raising the voices of those most impacted by homelessness. We want to give some thought to the questions below. Please reach out to either …

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November 19, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Meeting Agenda: 9:00 Welcome and Introduction9:05 Annual Subsidized Pass Program9:25 Coalition Member Updates9:35 COVID-19 Update for Service Providers10:00 City of Seattle and King County Budget Advocacy 10:20 Coalition Staff Updates10:25 December Legislative Preview Preview Thank you to everyone who attended our Thursday, November 19 Membership Meeting. A summary of the resources discussed is listed below and is being added to, please email Jason if you have additional materials you wish to share. We hope to see you next month at our Thursday, December 17 Legislative Preview Meeting. Click here to register. Agenda Highlights Subsidized Annual Pass Sound Transit and King County Metro are launching a program to provide ORCA cards to low income public transit riders. This program, once fully implemented, represents the largest expansion in public transit access locally since the creation of the ORCA LIFT program. The Coalition worked alongside our community partners Transportation Choices Coalition, Seattle Transit Riders Union, Puget Sound Sage, OneAmerica and others for years to make this happen, we are thrilled to see this benefit coming to our community. Click here to learn more. In response to a 2019-2020 budget request by King County Council, Metro worked to establish an income-based fare program for those who cannot afford the current reduced fare options. To create an equitable implementation plan, Metro collaborated with a stakeholder advisory group, prioritizing the mobility needs of priority populations, including people of color, low-income residents, limited or non-English speaking communities, and immigrants and refugees. The Subsidized Annual Pass functions like an ORCA LIFT card that can be offered free of charge to qualifying riders. This pass provides pays for 100 percent of the cost to use: King County Metro buses Rapidride Bus Routes Link Light Rail Sounder Commuter Train Seattle Streetcar Seattle Monorail Access Paratransit Via To Transit Sound Transit Express …

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October 15, 2020 General Membership Meeting

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Agenda 9:00 Welcome9:10 Statewide Eviction Moratorium Update9:20 Member Updates9:40 November Ballet Overview10:10 City of Seattle and other King County Advocacy Work10:25 Coalition Staff Updates Agenda Highlights Statewide Eviction Moratorium Update On Thursday October 8, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee announced that the temporary moratorium on evictions will be extended through the end of 2020, with no additional loopholes or exemptions. John Stovall with the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance thanked us for the statewide advocacy push that made this possible and encouraged us to send a thank you message to the Governors office using this link. The Housing Alliance also wants to gather stories of people who have faced challenges keeping their housing because of COVID-19. If you or someone you know has a story to share, please consider filling out this form. Health Through Housing Campaign We have a big, exciting opportunity to create emergency homes for 2,000 people experiencing chronic homelessness in our community. On Tuesday October 13, the King County Council voted 8-1 in favor of the Health through Housing proposal. If you’re a King County resident, send a personalized thank you message to your King County Councilmember and Executive Dow Constantine urging them to focus this new one tenth of one cent sales tax revenue on housing people with the lowest incomes, who have disabilities and have been homeless for far too long. Thank you to those of you who took action, please send a follow-up note to ensure that Health through Housing is dedicated to supportive housing with behavioral health services for people at or below 30% AMI. We need to keep a strong focus on making true regional progress on chronic homelessness. Coalition Member Updates  Hopelink Financial Empowerment Training Pt. II: The Coalition in partnership with Hopelink are offering a series of monthly mini-trainings to explore …

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September 17, 2020 Membership Meeting

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We are grateful to each presenter for sharing their time and passion with us at our September 17 Membership meeting, and to all who shared questions and insight. Thank you to all those listed below for providing content for our meeting: Omar Cuevas Vega, Community Organizer with Statewide Poverty Action Network Christina Wong, Government Relations Director at Northwest Harvest Emily Goodright, Case Manager at Hopelink Whitney Whittemore, Program Manager at Y Social Impact Center Erin McCann, Deputy Director at Legal Council for Youth and Children Joy Scott, Community Services Manager at City of Auburn  Cory Walster, Community Organizer at Civil Survival Rachel Koller, Resource Specialist at Recovery Cafe  Kelsey Mesher, Advocacy Director at Transportation Choices Coalition  Jessyca Murphy, Student Community Manager at Path with Art Below is a summary of some of the topics that we will discussed at our Thursday, September 17 Membership Meeting. This post will be updated as additional meeting materials are collected. Register now for our next Membership Meeting on Thursday, October 15 starting at 9am. Washington Dental Access Campaign Statewide Poverty Action Network (SPAN) has launched its Washington Dental Access Campaign to bring dental therapy to communities in need. Dental therapists are primary oral health care providers that deliver routine preventive and restorative care to those who need it most. Dental therapists are critical to expanding access to dental care where it is most out of reach, providing timely, quality care to rural, low-income communities and communities of color, and to patients who have coverage through Apple Health or are uninsured. Click here to learn more.  Dental therapists were recently authorized to work in select tribal communities. Community dental health advocates are pushing to extend this authorization statewide to bring much needed dental care to communities in need. Click here to support the campaign, and …

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August 20, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Defund the Navigation Team and City of Seattle Budget Advocacy  The Seattle City Council voted to defund the entire Navigation Team as part of their 2020 budget rebalancing work, but Mayor Durkan vetoed the Council’s budget, so our work is not over. Check out this Op-Ed from REACH Co-Director Chloe Gale and our Executive Director Alison Eisinger explaining why the Navigation Team is wasteful, ineffective, and does not help to end homelessness. Negotiations over the 2021 city budget begin in a few weeks. Click here to sign up for advocacy alerts. Defunding the Navigation Team is part of a border effort to re-balance the city budget towards more culturally appropriate community support services and affordable housing. This effort is being led by a coalition group called Decriminalize Seattle, which the Coalition on Homelessness is a member. You can learn more about their efforts at participatory budgeting  here.  COVID-19 Toolkit for homeless service providers  The King County Healthcare for the Homeless Network (HCHN) has updated its COVID-19 Outreach Provider Toolkit to aid homeless service staff in their work. Michael Young-Hall and Chante Stubbs with HCHN will be joining us Thursday to review the toolkit and discuss how best to utilize it at your program.  Coalition Community Updates  Census 2020: The 2020 Census is underway, and under attack. The Federal Government is threatening to intentionally not include all residents in the final reported count, and the deadline for data collection has been arbitrarily shortened from October 31 to September 30. When in Doubt, Count. It is more important than ever to help those you work with complete the Census by the end of September. For those without a traditional address, the census will be conducting Service Based Enumeration to survey people at locations such as overnight shelter programs and meal sites from September …

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July 16, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Statewide Eviction Moratorium The temporary statewide moratorium on evictions is set to expire August 1, which if not extended will put thousands in our community at risk of homelessness.Thank you Edmund Witter for explaining the eviction moratorium and sharing tips for service providers with clients involved in the eviction process, you can find a copy of his presentation here. And thank you Michele Thomas for sharing advocacy efforts underway to protect renters. WA’s eviction ban faces uncertain future, leaving renters in limbo, David Kroman, Crosscut Take Action: Tell Govenor Inslee to Extend the Eviction Moratorium through March 2021 JumpStart Seattle Advocacy Update Coalition Executive Director Alison Eisinger helped us celebrate the passage of JumpStart Seattle tax legislation and discussed the active conversation around the JumpStart Spending plan (which will be voted on very soon.. This legislation will “raise over $214 million per year in progressive revenue to respond to the immediate COVID crisis and focus on Seattle’s long-term economic revitalization and resiliency by investing in affordable housing and essential city services.” Take Action: Send a thank you message to the Seattle City Council for passing JumpStart Seattle, and encourage the Mayor to sign the legislation into law. Seattle Budget Advocacy Alison also talked about the City Council’s current work on the 2020 balancing budget and previewed the fall budget process (click here for a schedule of upcoming meetings). The Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness has signed on to the Decriminalize Seattle priorities to defund the SPD by at least 50%, reallocate those funds to community led health and safety systems, and release protesters arrested during this uprising without charges. Defund SPD teach-in recording: Learn more about efforts to defund SPD and reinvest in community-based and led responses to build health and safety. Voter registration and voting during COVID-19 Click here for …

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June 18, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Thank you to everyone who attended our June Membership Meeting! Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Highlights and resources shared on the call are below. Acknowledgement and Reflection Juneteenth Week 2020 is a week long celebration hosted by the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, Black Lives Matter – Seattle/King County, Tabor 100 and the FW Black Collective. Our purpose is to honor and remember a special milestone in black history: June 19, 1865. On this day, African Americans forced into slavery in the United States were officially and legally free (ish). Urban League’s Juneteenth Week of Activities Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County Juneteenth Week of Activities Pandemic EBT Benefits Thank you to Claire Lane, Director, Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition for your informative presentation of this crucially important benefit. You can View Claire’s PowerPoint presentation here. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has a toolkit with language translations to help you get the word out the community, click here to learn more. The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer Program (P-EBT) is a one-time award available to families with children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals through the school they attend. Families with children eligible for free and reduced price meals may be able to receive as much as $399 per child in this benefit. This benefit does not consider immigration status and is not subject to the Public Charge Rule. This means that P-EBT is one of the few benefits available to undocumented communities excluded from much of the COVID relief funds so far. Click here to review the program in more detail Households already enrolled in free or reduced price meals can apply for P-EBT through the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) starting June 28. Eligible household can apply …

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May 21, 2020 Coalition Annual Membership Meeting

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Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual Membership Meeting! Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Highlights and resources shared on the call are below. Click here to view the Coalition’s PowerPoint Presentation. 9:00 – Welcome and Introduction Opening Ceremony by Chief Seattle Club Drummers – thank you Randy Tippins-Firstrider, Youth Outreach Case Manager with Chief Seattle Club ——– New Coalition Mission, Vision, and Values – Thank you to Coalition Board members for sharing our new guiding principles. And thank you to all our members who contributed to this process Kate Baber, President, Coalition on Homelessness Board Anna Strahan, Coalition on Homelessness Board Member Derrick Belgarde, Treasurer, Coalition on Homelessness Board ——– Board of Directors Election: Each dues-paying member organization has one vote to elect the slate of candidates for the Board. We are pleased that four Board members have agreed to renew their terms of service: Derrick Belgarde, Katie Escudero, Benjamin Miksch, Jenn Romo. Primary membership contacts will hear from us directly about this. If you think you are the person who should vote, or have a question, please email us Highlights from the past year with the Coalition – see photos in our PowerPoint Presentation linked above! ——– City, County and Statewide Advocacy Opportunities Regarding sweeps currently happening in the City of Seattle, Alison shared: “We don’t find it to be acceptable under any circumstances that people are left to fend for themselves. We have proudly and successfully wrangled with multiple mayoral administrations over these kinds of dehumanizing and morally wrong actions. And now this. In the context of a global health emergency, in context of interim guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that clearly states in the absence of individual housing options people living unsheltered should …

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April 30 Coalition Supplemental Membership Meeting

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Because of rapid on-the-ground changes and new information related to COVID-19, we added a short special meeting to bridge the long weeks between our information-packed April 16 membership meeting (see notes here) and our next regular membership meeting on Thursday, May 21. This meeting is intended for front line and program staff in homeless services and housing organizations. Agenda for meeting 9:00 – Welcome and Introduction Holding respectful silence for residents and guests who have lost their lives during the pandemic, and others who have died. Information about how to help people access stimulus payments (see more here). Nicole Palczewski, Annual Fund Manager, DESC Update on public benefits changes (see more here) Eric Tayag, Social Service Training Specialist, DSHS Grete Shultz, Benefits Attorney, Solid Ground CEA Policy Change Update Homeless Service Change Tracker: http://homelessinfo.org/resource/covid/ Update on efforts to expand hygiene access for those living unsheltered Shared learning: We hope this conversation will move beyond what programmatic changes are happening to cover what program staff are learning as you do your work in the midst of major changes. What is one thing you have learned during the coronavirus outbreak as you engage with people to offer outreach, hygiene, or health services; operate shelter or manage housing under new conditions, or balance your work with suddenly homeschooling?   What is your favorite way to talk about social distancing with people you serve? Experiences from the front lines: Reflections on Service Changes – staff from DESC, Catholic Community Services, Mary’s Place Resources for taking care of ourselves and taking care of each other What are you doing to take care of yourself, keep perspective, or connect with people and community outside of work? The Coalition has been compiling a variety of resources to support our members in caring for ourselves and others. Taking care …

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April 16, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting

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Thank you for joining our meeting!Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Agenda for Thursday, April 16 meeting 9:00 – Introduction and welcome Poetry reading by Anitra Freeman Coalition Solidarity Fund Solidarity Fund – Rapid Response to COVID-19 pandemic Coalition on Homelessness COVID-19 Homeless Service Change Tracker View tracker here: http://homelessinfo.org/resource/covid/ Email notices@homelessinfo.org with program updates Food Assistance Update Christina Wong, Government Relations Director, Northwest Harvest Seattle City Councilmember Gonzalez’s Bills Vy Nguyen, Legislative Aide to Seattle City Councilmember Lorena González CB 119761 will create another defense to eviction due to nonpayment over the next six months (such as temporary loss of income, etc.) CB 119762 will require landlords to accept payment plans for back rent Statewide Eviction Moratorium Extension Xochitl Maykovich, Political Director, Washington Community Action Network Updates to the temporary moratorium on evictions Public Benefits: COVID-19 Related Changes to State Public Assistance Programs Eric Tayag, Social Service Training Specialist, DSHS Hannah Rosenberger, Benefits Attorney, Solid Ground Grete Shultz, Benefits Attorney, Solid Ground COVID-19 Public Health Information Dr. Julie Dombrowski, Deputy Director, Public Health – Seattle & King County HIV/STD Program Coalition Staff Updates Advocacy work on hygiene stations Census 2020 Veterans Assistance Programs HOLD Thursday April 30, 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. (sign up for Coalition emails for notice of upcoming meetings) Next Monthly Membership Meeting: Thursday, May 21, 9:00 a.m. via Zoom (Please register for call). Resources from the meeting Coalition Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments, 4/8/2020 Public Benefits COVID-19 Related Changes Temporary Emergency COVID-19 Rule Changes on Public Benefits, presentation from Eric Tayag, DSHS One-page Washington State Public Benefits COVID-19 Updates, Solid Ground Additional Resources Northwest Harvest COVID-19 response page, with FAQ on food distribution changes Live map where you can find what food banks or meal programs are …

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