A Briefing on Washington Voting Justice Coalition

About

Our 2016 Diversity Partner Grant, which focused on the criminal justice system in Washington state, inspired a group of members to take action beyond their grantmaking. After visiting Olympia to learn about the progress of legislation concerning legal financial obligations, these members organized our October 2017 workshop, “Demystifying Legislative Advocacy,” to share what they were learning about how advocate effectively for causes we passionately support.

As we continue to explore how to be effective philanthropic stewards in the realm of public policy and advocacy, we welcome Progress Alliance Washington to discuss with us how communities and nonprofit organizations are organizing to dismantle barriers to participation in our political process.

Despite the Northwest's progressive reputation, Washington state has not lived up to promises of protecting and defending voting rights for all people. Young people, single women and people of color vote at far lower rates than the overall population and experience real barriers to participation, including a lack of in-language materials for our rapidly growing immigrant communities -- which make up 15% of the state population and a growing part of the electorate. Progress Alliance will share with us what the members of the Washington Voting Justice Coalition are doing to make sure that all Washington voters have a chance to cast a ballot and have it count in this year’s elections.