(2015)

• We doubled funding for critical programs like Career Bridge;
• We doubled the funding for youth apprenticeship programs with priority hire;
• We doubled the funding for tenants education and organizing through organizations like the Tenants Union;
• We have commissioned now the study for commercial rent control;
• We have passed the funding for the YWCA homeless shelter; and
• We have done many other things – among which, two landmarks things have been:
  • the $2.3 million in additional funding for homeless services (thank you, Councilmember Licata for your leadership on that);
  • and we’ve also funded $1 million for ORCA passes for low-income middle and high school students (and I was really happy to work with Councilmember O’Brien on that).

(2016)

• $29 million in affordable housing [1000 homes]
• We restored the funding to the L.E.A.D. program, which is an alternative to incarcerating people, that the Mayor cut from his budget.
• We won more funding for programs serving survivors of domestic violence, funding for food for kids, and increased shelter hours for homeless people.
• We ended the corporate tax break Council gave to big banks doing international investment management services in 2009, now generating $2 million per year to help pay for social programs.

(2017)

• Funding for feasibility study for Seattle to build a public bank
• Millions of dollars for renters rights resources and organizing
• Funding to expand L.E.A.D
• Funding to expand services for survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence

(2018)

• LGBTQ wellness center at NOVA High School
• Funding for LGBTQ senior services, to back-fill the Trans services funding unacceptably cut by the Mayor
• Continued funding for SHARE/WHEEL shelters, despite the Mayor attempting to shutter these vital shelters.
• First ever funding for an eviction defense attorney to help Seattle residents facing eviction
• Won stable funding the first time for the annual Indigenous People’s Day celebration
• Won a SLI to demand progress from the Mayor on choosing a safe injection site

(2019)

• We won $3.5 million in new funding for the L.E.A.D. program, which diverts low-level offenders from jail and into services instead. This more than doubles the Mayor’s L.E.A.D. budget proposal.
• We won $2 million in new funding to expand tiny house villages, a proven program to get people off the streets and into permanent housing. Current tiny house village residents, the Low Income Housing Institute, and Nickelsville, along with hundreds of allies, all advocated strongly for more tiny house villages.
• We won $522,600 in funds to support restorative justice programs that provide an alternative to youth incarceration and the school to prison to deportation pipeline. As a result, Community Passageways’ Youth Consortium, Creative Justice, and Rainier Beach Action Coalition’s Corner Greeters programs will continue in 2020 to have a life-changing impact on the lives of hundreds of youth of color in our community.
• We won funding for a second eviction defense attorney, to ensure that hundreds more tenants facing eviction next year will have legal representation from the Housing Justice Project.
• We won an increase in funding for the Vietnamese Senior Association to cover meals, social and cultural programming, and bus passes for community elders. The VSA is a thriving, life-giving program for hundreds of people, and victory ensures that the program will continue to grow.
• We won $1.3 million in new funding to provide 5 mobile bathrooms demanded by Real Change activists.
• We won $15,000 in dedicated funding for Indigenous People’s Day, building on our historic win in 2014 that established this city celebration.
• We won an important Statement of Legislative Intent that underscores the need for film and music industry workers and their unions to have a strong, ongoing voice in the mayor’s plans to reorganize city cultural programming.
• We also won an important Statement of Legislative Intent directing the city to draw up plans for how to make public transit free for all to use in Seattle. This is a key demand of our fight for a #GreenNewDeal – putting resources into public transit to help put the brakes on the climate crisis.

Posted: September 29th, 2020 under Uncategorized