Legislative Updates

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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March 19, 2020 Coalition Membership Meeting Zoom Call – Agenda, Zoom tips, Resources

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Thank you to all who joined our meeting – we had over 100 folks participate. Sign up for Coalition emails to make sure you receive updates and notice of upcoming meetings. Highlights of resources shared on the call are below. Agenda from Thursday, March 19 meeting 9:00 – Introduction to meeting, zoom call tips, welcome from Coalition, Grounding exercise 9:15 – 10:25- COVID-19 for Homeless Service Providers Jody Rauch, Clinical Quality Lead, Health Care for the Homeless Network Marta Lema, Homelessness Response Coordinator, Public Health Seattle-King County Environmental Health Services Division Leo Flor, Director of King County Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) Email covidhomelessnessresponse@kingcounty.gov to get on mailing list, get information about calls, share service changes, stay in touch. 10:25 – 10: 35 – Legislative Session Wrap-Up part 1 Representative Nicole Macri, Legislative District 43 10:35 – 10:50 – COVID-19 State policy changes (just a couple) Xochitl Maykovich, Political Director at Washington Community Action Network Eviction Moratoria in Seattle / King County and Washington State Marcy Bowers, Director, Statewide Poverty Action Network Changes to WorkFirst compliance guidelines during the pandemic ABAWD waiver, possible changes to EBT reporting requirements COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies on DSHS website 10:50 – 11:10 – 2020 Legislative Session Debrief Sarah Brady, Policy & Advocacy Manager, Child Care Resources Michele Thomas, Director of Policy & Advocacy, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance 11:10 – Census 2020 Update Stay tuned for further communications Partners on the phone: Maya Manus, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle Debbie Carlson, LGBTQ Allyship/Queer the Census Coalition Next Monthly Membership Meeting: Thursday, April 16, 9:00 a.m. via Zoom (Please register for call). Resources from the meeting we’ll highlight (more to be added after the meeting) COVID-19 related Email covidhomelessnessresponse@kingcounty.gov to get on mailing list, get information about calls, share service changes, stay in touch. …

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Recap: Coalition’s General Membership Meeting — May 21, 2015

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You packed the room at our May 21 General Membership Meeting. Among the friendly faces were folks from Farestart, Sound Mental Health, Community Lunch on Capitol Hill, Harborview, City of Redmond, Housing Development Consortium, Hopelink, 2-1-1, Solid Ground, Seattle Community Law Center, Compass Housing Alliance, ROOTS, Catholic Community Services – Aloha Inn, Jewish Family Services, YearUp, Lake City Taskforce on Homelessness, Real Change, Global to Local, City of Seattle Human Services Department, Seattle Parks Department, resident of Pioneer Square, UW Center for Pediatric Dentistry, 45th Street Youth Clinic (Neighborcare), Low Income Housing Institute, REACH, UW Law School, YWCA Landlord Liaison Project. This broad representation from our member organizations and community as a whole helped facilitate important, timely dialogue with Seattle Human Services Department Director and Deputy Director as well as Acting Parks Superintendent. Here’s a brief recap . . .  [Psssst! Don’t miss out in the future — add our General Meeting dates to your calendar.] I. Discussion with Director Catherine Lester & Deputy Directors Heidi Albritton Catherine stared by sharing her background, starting at age 4, to help us understand her motivations, perspective, and reasons why she does what she does. She has five over-arching focuses/goals for HSD: Results. Generate results that are measurable, and that increase equity and decrease disparity. Measures vary, and need to be properly applied (e.g., quality vs performance vs outcome). Public Stewardship. HSD has had audit findings each year for the last four years. This isn’t good for many reasons, two of which are: 1) calls the question about whether HSD can do the job, and 2) risks money that flows to providers. Preferred Employer. Create a working environment that is positive and productive. This absolutely includes ensuring that providers have better, positive experiences working with HSD staff. Innovation.(Let’s continue to honor innovations that already exist.) Spoke specifically towards …

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