Seattle City Budget

Recap: General Meeting on the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Task Force Recommendations – October 20th, 2016

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The Coalition’s October general meeting occurred on Thursday, October 20th. In attendance were folks from the Transit Riders Union, Washington State Department of Health, King County Public Health Department Health Care for the Homeless, the Low Income Housing Institute, First Place, City of Seattle, Plymouth Housing Group, REACH, King County Metro, Crisis Clinic, The Salvation Army, Jewish Family Services, Seattle Public Library, Child Care Resources, the Housing Development Consortium, Seattle Department of Transportation, El Centro de la Raza, St. James Cathedral, and the Church of Harm Reduction.  Thanks to everyone who attended!  Here is a brief recap of the meeting: I: Voting Updates and Resources: The Coalition helped 365 homeless voters register this year, one for every day! Thanks for helping at your member organization. 83% of eligible voters are registered in the state of Washington. Lets get them all to vote!  Take action: put out voters guides and lists of the drop box locations in your organization. Click here for the map of the locations of the 43 ballot drop boxes in King County. Get more information by reading our voting tips. II: Heroin and Prescription Opiate Task Force Recommendations: [Link to the full report on the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Addiction Task Force recommendations.]  We were joined by Patricia Sully of the Public Defender Association/ Vocal-WA and Chloe Gale of REACH, for a discussion of the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Task Force recommendations. The recommendations by the task force fall into three categories: Primary Prevention, Treatment Expansion & Enhancement, and User Health & Overdose Prevention. Patricia and Chloe focused primarily on the User Health & Overdose Prevention recommendations and the Treatment Expansion recommendations. The two recommendations in the Health and Overdose Prevention section were to expand the distribution of naloxone and to establish at least two Community Health Engagement Locations/Supervised …

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Julia’s reflection on the 2015 Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth Advocacy Summit

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Six weeks into my internship with the Coalition on Homelessness, and my experiences have been above and beyond any of my expectations a month ago. Two weeks ago, I was excited to be a part of the 10th Annual Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth Advocacy Summit (October 5-6, 2015). While doing advocacy work in Minnesota, I learned that I would constantly learn and grow by witnessing folks advocate around issues that impact their lives, and my time at the Youth Advocacy Summit proved to be no exception to this rule! Having just supported the Coalition’s 2015 Voter Registration drive, one of the highlights of the Summit for me was witnessing young people choosing to participate in advocacy by exercising their right to vote. Over the course of the Summit, I was particularly excited to watch people think in a different, new way about voting. On the first day of the Summit, one participant was pretty vocal in their choice to not register to vote, feeling that their vote wasn’t enough to make change. Through conversations with other Summit participants, discussions about our elected officials in city and county government, and time to reflect, this participant changed their mind and decided to register! They are ready to have their voice heard in the upcoming election, and will do so through their vote as well as their conversations with Councilmembers during and beyond the Youth Advocacy Summit. Participants at the Youth Advocacy Summit took on no small task! I was impressed by these advocates’ commitment over two very full days (three days for Peer Leaders!) of discussing some of the hard work that needs to be done in this community. Advocates worked on and presented one of four issues throughout the Summit: 1 – Need for an increase in the numbers of available permanent and affordable housing units 2 – Issues specifically impacting People of …

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Voting in the Tues. November 3, 2015 General Election: Ballot drop-box locations & Important Dates

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The Coalition on Homelessness needs YOUR help to make sure that everyone in our community knows how to vote in the November 3, 2015 General Election.  This year the Coalition and Member Organizations, thanks to great staff and volunteers, helped 188 homeless and unstably housed people register to vote, and we want to make sure that each of them, and anyone else you work with, know how, when, and where to turn in ballots, as well as what to do if they haven’t received their ballot. Please share this information and call King County Elections (206) 296-VOTE (8683) if you have any voting related questions. Another opportunity to TAKE ACTION: Join Coalition members on Tuesday, October 20 at the Seattle City Council Budget Hearing (Seattle City Hall: 600 4th Ave, Seattle, 98104) to tell your elected officials why it is necessary to fully fund Human Services.  Check out this Action Alert from the Seattle Human Services Coalition for more information. We need your help to fill the room in support of human services.   IMPORTANT ELECTIONS DATES: Tuesday, October 20 Ballots are mailed to registered voters 20 days prior to the election.  If you have not received your ballot by Tuesday, October 20, call King County Elections (206) 296-8683. SPREAD THE WORD – put up a sign in your building to alert folks to call King County Elections if they haven’t received their ballot, and to let them know where to drop off ballots near your location. Monday, Oct 26 In-person voter registration deadline for people not currently registered in WA State.  Your new registration must be received in-person at either the Renton office:  919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057-2906, or Seattle office: 500 4th Avenue, Room 440, Seattle, WA 98104. Tuesday, Nov 3  Election Day! Ballots must be dropped at ballot drop box …

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