Press Release: Community Assemblies Energize Washington’s Democracy

You are currently viewing Press Release: Community Assemblies Energize Washington’s Democracy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anand Balasubrahmanyan, [email protected]

Phone Number: 651-285-6203

Community Assemblies Energize Washington’s Democracy

Community members work closely with government to generate recommendations for policies or investments in their health and well-being

Seattle, WA – Community groups across Washington are launching a new effort to make sure our state’s policies are shaped by the people most impacted by pollution and poverty. By convening Community Assemblies from Spokane to the Olympic Peninsula, these groups are centering community expertise to make our government’s approach to making laws and investing public money more effective.

“People who struggle to make ends meet on a minimum wage job or live in neighborhoods with air pollution have important ideas on how to address challenges that affect their lives everyday,” said Deric Gruen, Front and Centered Co-Executive Director. “Community Assemblies can make government programs and investments more effective and create a healthier democracy.”

Disparities in health care, housing, and safe environments are due, in part, to a disconnect between government policy making and community members with lived experiences of these challenges. Community Assemblies are a tool for building community capacity for greater collaboration between people and government. Community members use assemblies to translate their priorities into actionable laws and investments. The process allows government and community to learn side-by-side, with government gaining insight into challenges and solutions drawn from the lived experience of frontline communities and community members learning how to navigate policymaking to improve their well-being.

“Community Assemblies are a bold investment in low-income and Black, Indigenous, and communities of color to elevate community expertise and solutions to budget and policy makers on sustainable investments to raise the economic and environmental floors in Washington,” said Lindsay Morgan Tracy, Innovator-in-Chief, Washington Economic Justice Alliance, at the Department of Social & Health Services.

In 2023, the Washington State Legislature invested $2 million to pilot a statewide network of Community Assemblies fully centered on overburdened communities. Community Assemblies are composed of structured learning and discussion sessions led by trusted community-based organizations to help people call attention to the issues that impact their lives, develop solutions, and participate in implementing those solutions. Assemblies are designed to help our state overcome historical barriers that kept communities of color from participating in policy development.The assembly model is widely used in the EU and other countries to collaboratively build civic muscles with those who stand to benefit the most and with government leaders and staff.

“Community Assemblies equip people with the skills and civic knowledge necessary for self-determination, including the ability to advocate for meaningful change,” said Faduma Fido, Lab Leader at People’s Economy Lab.

Over three months, the first Community Assemblies will co-create a roadmap for change by proposing policies and public investments that can be implemented by Washington State. Assemblies will take place in Seattle, Spokane, Yakima, Moses Lake and Walla Walla, as well as in Whatcom, Skagit and King Counties. Funded by the Climate Commitment Act, initial Community Assemblies will focus on creating better policies that improve issues like the environment, agriculture, public health, and economic well-being.

“Community Assemblies build trust in democracy by empowering people to participate in creating the policies that will impact their lives,” said Lianna Kresson, Statewide Poverty Action Network Interim Director.

As Washingtonians face increasingly complex concerns, Community Assemblies will build civic muscle by providing a direct way for people to engage with the policy making process. Assemblies create collaborative spaces between people and government, opening access and building experience so that historically marginalized communities can fully participate in our democracy. Ultimately, improving civic participation will make our state and communities more resilient and create a more equitable society for all.

The proposal emerged from a multiple-year partnership between the Just Futures project, a collaboration of People’s Economy Lab, Statewide Poverty Action Network, and Front and Centered, a Community Leadership Committee, and the Economic Justice Alliance housed at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. The Environmental Justice Council endorsed the proposal and played a key role in advocating for its inclusion in the state budget.

Community Assemblies are supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.

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About Just Futures
Just Futures is a coalition of community organizations, supported by the Economic Justice Alliance, to realize collaborative governance in Washington State. As part of this larger effort, Just Futures is facilitating Community Assemblies across the state to make public programs and investments more effective, build community self-determination and create a healthier democracy.

About People’s Economy Lab
People’s Economy Lab builds networks of leaders and advances projects that reshape our local economy toward one that is just, sustainable, and regenerative. Peoples Economy Lab is led by and centers Black, Indigenous, and communities of color in the Seattle area who are striving for economic justice, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for a Just Transition to a solidarity economy in Washington state.

About the Statewide Poverty Action Network
The Statewide Poverty Action Network is an anti-poverty advocacy organization located in Seattle, WA. Through in-person community organizing and policy advocacy, we advance equitable policy solutions for low-income people in Washington state.

About Front and Centered
Front and Centered is a diverse and powerful coalition of communities of color-led groups across Washington State, whose missions and work come together at the intersection of equity, environmental and climate justice. Front and Centered seeks a Just Transition away from an extraction-based economy to one centered on ecological restoration, community resilience, and social equity, fueled by regenerative resources and cooperative work, governed by deep democracy, and a culture of caring and sacredness.

About Washington Economic Justice Alliance
The Washington Economic Justice Alliance (“the Alliance”) is a collaboration between experts with lived experience, community and tribal partners, and agencies to implement the 10-Year Plan. The Alliance brings together three related groups under a single, unified identity – the Poverty Reduction Work Group and its Steering Committee of experts with lived experience, and the Subcabinet on Intergenerational Poverty.

The Alliance’s mission is to advance policy, program and funding changes that ensure every Washingtonian can meet their basic needs, fully contribute their talents, and pass well-being on to future generations.