Around a hundred supporters turned out on a beautiful spring day in Olympia to urge legislators to fund Communities In Schools organizations in Washington. The day marked the culmination of a year of legislative meetings by staff and board members across our network, as well as hundreds of letters written on our behalf, as we sought to lay the groundwork for eventual state funding.
As the Washington network of thirteen CIS organizations comes into our own as the leader in school-based coordinated services we seek to complement our funding (traditionally business, foundation and individually supported) with consistent funding from the State of Washington. Such funding will sustain our momentum of reaching thousands more youth in need and at risk of dropping out.
This is our first year at a concerted network-wide request, and with a state budget deficit of $2.8 billion we knew our chances were a long shot at best. But we decided to use the opportunity to more assertively educate policy makers about the work we are doing – work that ultimately decreases unemployment, reduces social service costs and drives our tax base. And in the words of Senate supporter, Tracey Eide, “If you don’t come down and ask you’re never going to get anything.”
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As we all feared, proposed House and Senate budgets released yesterday were marked more by cutting programs than adding new ones, no matter how effective. And while the budgets did not include Communities In Schools funding our efforts have still enjoyed considerable success. When it comes to dropout prevention and school-based coordination, we are now front-and-center in the minds of leading legislators and policy makers. When our economy eventually rebounds we are, more than ever, poised to gain state funding.
We knew going in this was going to be a multi-year process. Count our first year a success that we will build on over the course of 2010, let culminate on Olympia Day 2011, and result in state funding for our Washington State network.
Thanks to everyone for your support and hard work as we work to make state funding a reality in Washington!