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Shalom UCC in Richland unveiled a scroll of legislative wins during their church service May 7: left to right, Mike Stipe, Mickey Beary, John Patrick, Marsha Stipe, Pastor Stephen Gentle, and Lora Rathbone. See story below. Protect People in Debt Ceiling Negotiations and the Farm Bill We have two action items for you this week as we turn our attention to Congress and federal policies that impact our neighbors: Regarding the tense debt ceiling negotiations, we need to reach out to our lawmakers to make sure any compromise does not fall hardest on people who rely on anti-poverty programs. Use [...]

Ending hunger in WA, especially at K-12 schools and colleges, continues to be a deep commitment for FAN. We are grateful to FAN supporters Trevor Sandison and Darcy Huffman (who also serves as an Olympia school board member) for representing FAN this week with the Washington State Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition, legislators, and other advocates as the Governor signed bills providing Free School Meals for 90,000 more students and creating Hunger-Free College Campuses. Keep Our Advocacy Moving Forward! Each spring, we share with you our midyear reflections and the successes you’ve helped make possible, and we invite your financial support [...]

FAN celebrated with The Alliance for Gun Responsibility and other advocates as the historic assault weapons ban was signed into law this past week. We Celebrate These 2023 Legislative Session Successes because of YOUR ADVOCACY! We are delighted to present some incredible wins this legislative session in two formats, found on our Legislative Agenda webpage: A two-page bulleted summary of successes we are celebrating that you can review and share in your community. A more comprehensive synthesis of the session by our Policy Engagement Director, Kristin Ang, excerpted below. We thank you for showing up for advocacy and the issues [...]

FAN was honored to be in the room yesterday representing decades of work by FAN and our predecessor faith organizations, as Governor Inslee signed SB 5087 removing the death penalty from Washington state law. Sen. Jamie Pederson and Rep. Tina Orwall as co-sponsors of the bill, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, NAACP President Gerald Hankerson, Supreme Court Justice Charles Johnson, and many other legislators and advocates marked this historic signing. This was a jubilant and tearful moment, and there is much work still to be done to ensure other states end the death penalty. We’ll share additional bill signings on social [...]

Please save the dates for our online Spring Summits on two Sunday afternoons: May 7 and June 4. To make these post-session conversations accessible to as many people as possible, we have opted for virtual meetings. We plan to follow up with smaller, in-person cluster meetings and regional gatherings this summer and fall. Register to join us for Spring Summits to hear the legislative session recap and strategize in small groups on the issues you care about. We will publish more information in the coming weeks. Register for a Spring Summit Take Action There is just [...]

We stand in heartfelt solidarity through these sacred days of Ramadan, Passover, Holy Week and Easter, Buddha’s birthday, Vaisakhi Day, and more. We commemorate the anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s death this week, calling to mind his powerful quote: "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." We give thanks for your solidarity and all the ways we pray, celebrate, and take action together for justice. Save the Dates for Summits Please save the dates for our online Spring Summits on two Sunday [...]

FAN participated in a week of interfaith hospitality at Ramadan iftars with Pacifica Foundation in Snohomish and the Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS) in Redmond, and a Passover seder with the Jewish Federation in Olympia. We are in a rare convergence of holy days this week for our faith communities, as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan continues, Christians enter into Holy Week from Palm Sunday through Easter services, Passover begins at sundown on Wednesday for the Jewish community, and Sikhs celebrate Vaisakhi Day on April 14. We want to pause to thank you for your presence in Faith Action [...]

FAN Operations Coordinator Blake Alford and FAN Economic Justice Working Group leader Steve Clagett (Pictured on the right) stand in solidarity with union workers at the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. We are seeking the next FAN Eastern Washington part-time regional organizer and hope you will help us get the word out for this opportunity! Send your questions and applications to apply@fanwa.org. Take Action There is one month left in the legislative session and committees have been hearing bills from the opposite chamber. In order to have a vote before the full opposite chamber, bills must move out of policy committees [...]

We are seeking the next FAN Eastern Washington part-time regional organizer, and hope you will help us get the word out for this opportunity! Applications or questions received at apply@fanwa.org. Take Action As we move into next week, we are still tracking bills and hearings. We offer some options for signing in to support bills below. We are also concerned about what will be included in budget proposals. On Monday, a new revenue forecast will be delivered that will have a great impact on budget decisions. We encourage you to write to both fiscal committees with the following request for [...]

Our longtime volunteer in Olympia, Trevor Sandison, has been spending long days into evenings this week in Olympia as the House worked overtime to pass bills before House of Origin cutoff. Trevor is point person for us on some of the anti-hunger bills. Here is Trevor pictured with Lin Crowley from the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition, Darcy Huffman, Olympia School Board President, and Kristin Ang, FAN Policy Engagement Director. We’ve passed the House of Origin cutoff this week, and thanks to your advocacy, we celebrate that several bills on our legislative agenda are now ready to be considered in the [...]