The Fair Start of Kids Act would make early learning – including childcare, preschool, and programs for infants and toddlers – more affordable and accessible for families and more sustainable for providers, who are typically women of color.
Advocacy
All meetings, hearings, and testimonies for the 2021 legislative session will be happen virtually. This provides constitutes with more access and opportunity to be heard by their elected officials than ever before. Whether it’s tracking a bill or testifying in front of a committee, we’ve compiled a list of resources to keep you connected and engaged during this unprecedented session.
Foundation for Tacoma Students board member Grant Hosford testified in front of the Senate committee in favor of a bill regarding the development of comprehensive school counseling programs. As a retired principal and counselor, Grant has witnessed firsthand the impact that school counselors have on the social, emotional, and educational success of youth.
With the opening of the 2021 Legislative Session, we focus our efforts on the role and influence we play personally and professionally in our community. It will require collective action for us to advance student-centered education amid the disruptions, disconnections, and trauma brought about by the pandemic. A remote legislative session provides us all with more opportunities than ever before to support working parents and the resiliency of their children – both of which are key to building vibrant, flourishing communities.
Effective advocacy by the Tacoma-Pierce County community prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to issue an Executive Order creating a temporary opt-in for the College Bound Scholarship, but legislative action in the 2021 session is needed to ensure that this path to college for students from low-income families becomes permanent state policy.
We believe that the truest form of equality can only be achieved when we have finally interrogated, abolished, and redefined the harmful policies against Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and economically marginalized communities. In the context of education in our state, many factors are at play. It begins with voting. How you vote – up and down the ballot – matters. Period.