Here's the news at the Alliance this month!

Welcome Laurel Fish, Senior Organizer

A message from Mary Lou Johnson, President of the Spokane Alliance Board:

The leaders of the Spokane Alliance are happy to announce that Laurel Fish has joined us as our new Senior Organizer!  Laurel replaces our terrific Katie Zinler to continue our work for the common good. Many of you will recognize Laurel as the Co-Chair of the Strategy Team and active member of both the Childcare/Mental Health Team and our new Language Access Team. So happy to have you in this new role, Laurel!

A message from Laurel:

I am honored to have the opportunity to work with the Spokane Alliance in building an inclusive, strategic, and powerful coalition.  

I was born and raised in Spokane and moved back here with my family in 2019. I have spent the last eight years as a union representative and organizer. My time in the labor movement taught me that developing leaders to recognize and wield their own power is one of the few ways to create long-lasting change.

While Spokane has grown and changed in the decade I was away, the disparities we face—especially across race and class—have also become more visible and acute. The challenges we confront are bigger than any one organization can tackle on their own. I believe that our coalition is uniquely poised to have the vision, leadership, and power necessary to work on issues that will help create a thriving Spokane.

Looking forward to working you on achieving our collective vision,

Laurel

August of Action: Childcare at the County

We brought our power to the Spokane County Commissioner’s public meeting every week in August to support childcare stabilization. Over 60 members attended, 21 speakers testified, and 12 institutions came out in support. See coverage of the actions from The Center Square and Spokane Public Radio.

Early childhood development needs long term, sustainable solutions, but right now it needs to be stabilized before the whole industry vanishes. The Spokane Alliance Childcare & Mental Health Team has identified major pressures impacting our families—we know that our community is facing a lack of affordability for working families, an under-resourced childcare workforce and lack of mental health resources in early learning.

We’re asking the Spokane Board of Commissioners to allocate at least $4.5M of their $101M in federal recovery funds to match investments from the City and Valley.

The County Commissioners have not yet stepped up to do their part-–our work isn’t over yet! 

Sign Up for Get Out the Vote Doorknocking with the Alliance

The Spokane Alliance is mobilizing Get Out the Vote days to educate our members and voters on where the candidates stand on our priority issues.

We will be knocking on doors to talk to neighbors about the impact of these elections on our community--accessible childcare, quality jobs, equitable housing, language access, and more!

Dates: Saturday, October 22nd & Saturday, October 29th

Time: 10 AM 

Meet at: Parkview Early Learning Center (19 E Queen, Spokane)

Join Us for the Delegate Assembly, Sept 29th, 6-8pm

Join leaders from across the Spokane Alliance for our quarterly Delegate Assembly.

We will be meeting to reflect on our work so far and discern the next steps for building our unity and power as a coalition. 

Each member organization should have 3-4 representatives present. Participating ensures your organization's interests are represented. 

Date: Thursday, September 29th

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Location: Spokane Education Association (230 E Montgomery Ave, Spokane)

On April 28th, 255 members of the Spokane Alliance and 25 kids from 17 member institutions were successful in getting commitments from the City of Spokane and City of Spokane Valley to allocate a total of $4.5 M towards Childcare Stabilization of American Rescue Act Plan funds! 

Spokane Alliance is searching for a Community Organizer. Please apply yourself or pass it on to someone you know that would be interested. 

Join members of the Spokane Alliance in raising your voice for language access and justice in medical care by supporting House Bill 1852 Language Requirements for Prescription Drug Labels.

Last night, Spokane City Council passed an update to the 2014 Apprenticeship Utilization Ordinance. This is a victory our Jobs Team has been working towards since 2019. This update will ensure that the ordinance works the way it was intended and that we are creating as many opportunities for apprentices as possible.

128 members of the Spokane Alliance and guests joined together with three Spokane City Councilmembers for a powerful night of action.

COVID-19 has peeled back a veneer of normalcy that the status quo had blanketed over our broken systems. When presented with public health and economic challenges, many of our institutions were exposed for their precarious nature: unemployment benefits, healthcare, supply chains, schools, and others revealed how decades of underinvestment left them unable to withstand adversity.

The Child Care Collaborative Task Force was charged by the Washington State Legislature with creating four reports that analyze the status of child care and provide policy recommendations to provide affordable and accessible child care to all Washington families by 2025. The flyer below illustrates the current child care crisis based on information from the first report published by the taskforce in November 2019. 

Parkview Early Learning Center's (Spokane Alliance Child Care Organization) Luc Jasmin is a Tri-Chair for the Task Force. 

Spokane Alliance member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1439 and its members have been busy navigating a hazardous environment where the gratitude for their profession has poured in from executives thanking them as “heroes” for their pivotal work to keep our communities nourished.

Across the country, millions of Americans are speaking out in support of long-overdue police reforms. Yet here in Spokane, Mayor Nadine Woodward is trying to reduce independent oversight of the police.