We did it! Spokane City Strengthens Quality Jobs

In December 2021 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. The Apprenticeship Utilization Ordinance sets standards for all public works projects over $600,000. It requires that 15% of the workers employed are apprentices and incentivizes the sourcing of local materials. It will also now:

• require that the apprenticeship hours are completed in each craft not just by one craft, and
• increase the fines for contractors who have repeated violations.

The update passed 6-1. Take a second to say thank you to our allies in the City Council. You can send an email to: [email protected].

Quality Job Ordinances

In 2014, we developed and passed Quality Job Ordinances in Spokane. These policies require the city to hire a 15% rate of apprentices on all projects $350K or higher, give preference for local contractors and purchasing, and require all hired contractors to have “responsible” hiring practices. We have been working with the city to make sure they are enforcing the law and that contractors are complying. We developed a Community Benefits Agreement which names the values we want public agencies to use as a guide for how they spend our tax dollars to create a larger public benefit. 

The Housing Equity Action Research Team (HEART) was formed by Spokane Alliance to focus on expanding affordable housing in the West Central neighborhood. This effort grew from community organizing work at the West Central Abbey. Guests and volunteers at the Abbey's Wednesday night free Dinner Table identified the lack of stable, affordable, and dignified housing as their top concern. Members of the West Central Development Project, the West Central Abbey, and the Salem Lutheran Church have come together to work on this issue.

When the coronavirus pandemic began Dr. Luiz Manriquez, family physician and leader with the Spokane Alliance, knew that Spokane County did not have enough hospital beds to care for the number of predicted cases. With support from the WSU Elson S. Floyd School of Medicine and in coordination with the Spokane Regional Health District, the Spokane Alliance created the Community Health Monitoring Program.

Everyone gets sick. And everyone deserves time to get better, without risking their economic security or safety. Now about 40,000 workers in Spokane receive earned sick and safe leave, as a result of our work.

In response to our work, Spokane City and County secured local and state funding to build a Mental Health Crisis Stabilization Facility. The facility will divert people who have committed a low level crime and who have mental health or substance abuse issues from jail to a stabilization facility. 

When the pandemic began the longer-term issues facing families and the childcare industry were laid bare. Many member organizations of the Spokane Alliance represent front-line workers who were continuing to work through the early shut downs. Their lack of access to affordable childcare created crises for families and in our public services.

In 2006, the IAF Northwest created SustainableWorks and in 2009 it was spun it off into a separate nonprofit economic development enterprise. SustainableWorks’ mission was to create living wage jobs and the pathways to them, provide social and economic benefits for families, and improve the environment by upgrading the existing building stock.

A regional initiative of IAF Washington - uniting the Spokane and Sound Alliances - the Budget and Policy Center, and other statewide allies, All In For Washington aims to engage Washington state residents to make a collective judgement on financing for government services such as K-12 education, higher education, physical and mental health care, public safety, and the social safety net.

To provide good jobs in Spokane and develop a skilled local workforce, we worked with the City Council to pass the Quality Jobs Ordinance. This built on our previous victory with the Spokane Public Facilities District (PFD) that made the expansion of the Convention Center and Arena a truly local project.