Faith Action Network Advocates celebrate the power of advocacy together at IFAD 2024 in Olympia! Thank you for your continued advocacy this legislative session! Photos by @mjwhitephotos.

Celebrating IFAD 2024

FAN’s 2024 Interfaith Advocacy Day on February 8 was an energizing, successful day under sunny skies in Olympia! Nearly 200 advocates showed up from across the state, including Spokane, Wenatchee, Yakima, Vancouver, Bellingham, Aberdeen, the Puget Sound region, and many places in between. They heard plenary speakers, attended workshops, caucused with people from their districts, and met with legislators and their staff about the issues on our legislative agenda. Differently this year, and with a buzz of energy, they participated in “floor pulls” with their legislators in the lobby, since both House and Senate were on their respective floors voting. Our youngest attendee, Jonna from Bellingham, even joined a meeting with the Governor. It was a day of collective power and faith values in the service of justice, love and compassion!

Warmly hosted at The United Churches of Olympia, we were welcomed to the space by Rev. Corey Passons of Interfaith Works. FAN board member Dr. Jasmit Singh from Khalsa Gurmat Center spiritually-grounded attendees by emphasizing the importance of multi-faith collaboration in advocating for shared values and a better world. You can read his inspiring words at our FAN blog. FAN staff all played a role in carrying out pieces of the day with their expertise and care for our network.

A highlight of the morning was an impactful address from Senator Yasmin Trudeau, representing the 27th District and celebrated as the first Muslim elected to the Washington State Legislature. A staunch advocate for housing and justice, Senator Trudeau emphasized the critical role of faith voices in legislative arenas. She passionately advocated for HB 2114, a bill aimed at stabilizing rents to support families and community members struggling with housing affordability. She encouraged attendees to keep raising their voices and values for policy change.

Our coalition partners presented workshops to prepare IFAD attendees for their legislative visits. We are grateful to presenters from Alliance for Gun Responsibility, Anti-Defamation League PNW, Anti-Hunger Nutrition Coalition, Balance Our Tax Code, Civil Survival, Earth Ministry/Interfaith Power and Light, Healthcare for All, Jewish Coalition for Immigrant Rights, NAMI WA, WA Coalition for Police Accountability, WA Immigrant Solidarity Network, WA Low Income Housing Alliance. These experts are amazing!

After caucusing in legislative districts over lunch, orange scarved FAN advocates met with legislators, aides, and observed the legislative process. The dynamic presence of FAN advocates at the Capitol served as a powerful reminder of the crucial role faith communities play in advocating for equitable and sustainable futures. Your unique perspectives and stories enrich the legislative process, offering lawmakers insights into the moral and ethical implications of their decisions. It was a great day!

You can view the video of the morning plenaries on our YouTube channel.
Photos of the day can be found in the IFAD 2024 Facebook album.
Keep sharing photos of your groups and activities on social media by tagging FANWA and #IFAD2024.

Kristin’s Recap of Week 5

Today is the 33rd day of a brief 60-day session, and we’ve surpassed the midpoint. Both the House and Senate are working diligently to advance bills before the critical deadline on February 13, the last day bills can be passed in their house of origin. There’s a push to move certain bills from the Rules Committee to a full vote by this deadline, after which the legislative process will transition to the opposite chamber. The importance of cut-off dates determine which bills will progress as they pass the policy and fiscal cut-offs. A lot of bills are stalled or considered “dead” including Healthy Free Schools Meals for All, Working Families Tax Credit Expansion, and Evergreen Basic Income Pilot Programs, but opportunities exist to revive their core ideas through amendments or procedural strategies.

Bills that passed house of origin this week, with vote count Yea and Nay in parentheses:

  • HB 1579 Independent Prosecutor (53Y, 44N) would create a state office to ensure fair and transparent prosecutions of unlawful use of deadly force by police officers.
  • SB 5241 Keep Our Care Act (28Y, 21N) would ensure that health entity consolidations improve rather than harm access to affordable high-quality healthcare in a community, including gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare.
  • HB 1541 Nothing About Us Without Us (83Y, 14N) would ensure meaningful participation of people with direct lived experience on statutorily created or mandated state committees.
  • SB 5427 Biased Incidents Hotline (30Y 18N) would support people who have been targeted or affected by hate crimes and bias incidents and provide victims with immediate access to resources and support.
  • SB 6007 Grocery Worker Standards (32Y, 16N) would retain grocery worker’s jobs and protect from layoffs caused by corporate mergers.
  • SB 6251 Developing Regional Behavioral Health Crisis Response and Suicide Prevention Services (Unanimous Vote).
  • SB 5853 Expanding the 988 Behavioral Health Crisis System would expand behavioral crisis services for minors (Unanimous Vote).

Resources for You and Your Communities

During these quickly moving weeks of session, we want to gather these resources for your easy reference as you advocate:

Register for Yakima Advocacy Day

Our friends in Yakima are planning an advocacy day for Saturday, February 24, 9am-3pm at Wesley United Methodist Church. Sponsored by Between the Ridges: Alliance for the Common Good, a new organizing project in the Yakima Valley, and co-sponsored by FAN, Yakima Association of Faith Communities, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, and other community groups. Goals include developing local advocacy, civic engagement, statewide advocacy, and mobilizing voters. Lunch and interpretation services will be provided, and donations accepted.

Decolonization for Transformation

Our friends in the Wenatchee area invite all to an interactive, in-person training to explore core concepts of justice for Indigenous Peoples, including an analysis of the doctrine of discovery. Join us for this engaging training with Sarah Augustine, a Pueblo (Tewa) descendant and renowned activist and leader for indigenous rights. We will explore core values, engage in power analysis, and explore decolonization from a cultural lens with an emphasis on seeking repair. This day-long training will be held in-person at the Sunnyslope Church (3330 School St., Wenatchee) from 9 AM – 4 PM, and include a catered lunch and training manual for participants. Although many of our sponsors are faith-based organizations, this is a secular training intended for community members and organizational leaders who are seeking to learn how we can identify and challenge systems of colonization and join with indigenous communities today as they organize for the survival of all life.

Event Sponsors: The Sunnyslope Church, Pacific Northwest Conference – United Church of Christ, Northwest Intermountain Synod – Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, NCW Equity Alliance, and Faith Action Network.

Lobby Days with our Coalition Partners

Thursday, February 15, 8:00am-3:30pm, in-person and online. Children’s Alliance, Have a Heart for Kids Advocacy Day.

Thursday, February 15, 8:30am-3:30pm, in-person. Jewish Community Relations Council Lobby Day. Contact alizam@jewishinseattle.org for information.

Monday, February 19, 9:00am-3:00pm, in-person. APRI Seattle, Charles Rolland African American Lobby Day.

Saturday, February 24, 9:00am-3:00pm, in-person. Yakima Advocacy Day

Tuesday, February 27, Noon-1:00pm, in-person. Balance Our Tax Code Coalition Rally.

Opportunities

Look for opportunities to meet with your state legislators during their Town Halls–either by phone, online or in-person–as an excellent way to raise your priorities during session without traveling to Olympia. Find your legislator here and look on their website for town hall opportunities.

Our partners at SEIU 6 invite us to “Show some union love for downtown Seattle janitors!” on Wednesday, February 14, noon. Join with SEIU 6 to support workers in downtown Seattle, starting at McGraw Square. We will give out Valentines at two locations: the Medical Dental building, where a non-union company employs janitors to work below union standards without critical benefits like full family healthcare. Second, we’ll visit union janitors at another site who are uniting to fight back against heavy workloads that have taken a toll on them both physically and emotionally. We’ll deliver Valentines to let these janitors know that they are not alone, and that we will win together. Email us at fan@fanwa.org if you’d like to join the FAN contingent.

Upcoming Events

February 20, Tuesday, 7:00-8:30pm, online, Book Launch Conversations: Pluralism in the Abrahamic Tradition & the Temptation to Supremacy. Presented by Paths to Understanding.

Saturday, March 2, 9:00am-4:00pm, Decolonization for Transformation, in-person, Sunnyslope Church, Wenatchee. Save the Date for a Cultivating Justice featuring Sarah Augustine, Executive Director, Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery.

Saturday, March 2, Noon, WA Poor People’s Campaign March to Stay Alive, in-person, WA State Capitol, Olympia. Join in the Mass Poor People’s Assembly in Olympia.

Saturday, March 9, 3:00pm, Interreligious Dialogue Initiative Film Screening and Discussion: Carving the Divine, in-person, Seattle University, Seattle. An event in solidarity and support for the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple which recently experienced arson.