One of the more under-reported obstacles for people experiencing homelessness is the sheer number of social service agencies they must visit not just to get their lives “back on track”, but simply to guarantee day to day survival. The labyrinthine route to housing or employment or affordable healthcare often involves multiple trips to different locations spread throughout the city. This constant trekking from agency to agency is especially difficult when you consider a homeless individual’s limited transportation options, especially if they are aged or disabled.…

Now is not the best time to be a government bookkeeper. It seems that every level of  public administration–federal, state, and local–is confronting the worst budget environment in recent memory. As deficits balloon and public debt levels skyrocket, the instinct to slash and burn what many feel is a bloated, unwieldy public sector becomes all the more appealing.

In this type of climate, it’s often easy to forget that well-designed, strategic public spending– and private philanthropy for that matter–can often SAVE LOTS OF MONEY down…

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS

On June 22, the federal government unveiled the first ever national plan to prevent and end homelessness.  The plan, which was developed primarily through the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, defines clear strategies and benchmarks for ending homelessness for individuals and families.

While hundreds of local communities have been working to end homelessness, without the commitment of the federal government the work at the local level becomes significantly more difficult.  We’ve recognized for a…

Carol Wood, United Way of King County’s Director of Public Policy, recently spoke at a Department of Early Learning hearing on proposed rule changes to Working Connections Child Care, a program which provides working, low-income parents with quality, affordable child care.  Changes to WCCC made in the last legislative session increased the amount of time low-income families are authorized to receive state subsidized child care to a full 12 months (instead of 2-6 months), initially focusing on children enrolled in ECEAP, Head Start and Early Head…

[As Congress embarks on its annual task of refining the federal tax code, our free tax campaign director and asset-building guru Courtney Noble discusses the importance of temporarily expanded tax credits in providing the working poor with a solid financial footing, and argues for making those expansions permanent.]

Between January and April, 2010, United Way of King County volunteers prepared tax returns for 14,000 clients throughout King County.  Our clients had a median annual income of $19,062, which, when compared to Seattle’s median household income…

Seattleites are constantly complaining about the city’s frustrating parking situation, and with good reason.  Not only is the closest available parking for Pioneer Square somewhere in Pullman, but the cost of parking downtown even for just a few hours ranges between mildly outrageous to “I wonder how much they want for the down payment?”

Unfortunately I don’t have the cure for Seattle’s parking woes, but I did stumble on something a few cities around the country are doing that makes parking your car a…

[Our affordable housing guru Neil Powers takes a look at the City's plan to spend those much-needed Housing Levy dollars approved last year. The initial review: So far, so good...]

Dr. Don Berwick, President Obama’s nominee to become the head of Medicare and Medicaid, visited United Way of King County last year and declared that 40% of good health is  “a roof over your head”.  To that end, Seattle citizens overwhelmingly voted last November for the $145 million Seattle Housing Levy Renewal, agreeing to extend…

Yesterday,  Governor Gregoire signed into law E2SHB 2782, the “Disability Lifeline” bill that preserved most of what was formerly known as General Assistance Unemployable (GAU). Although the program underwent some significant cuts and the end result is not exactly what many homelessness advocates wanted to see, most of the essential components of GAU–including healthcare for our community’s most vulnerable populations–were preserved. This is an especially noteworthy feat considering our state’s budget mess had prompted many state lawmakers to push for disbanding GAU altogether.…

If you haven’t heard yet, the past year has been a slightly less than ideal economic environment for non-profits. Even in Seattle, where a fantastic culture of philanthropy rivals that of any city in the country, charitable organizations of all stripes are being forced to tighten their belts.

Now one of our  favorite youth leadership programs, Solid Ground’s Penny Harvest, is in jeopardy of not being able to continue into the next school year. Established in Seattle in the early 1990′s, Penny Harvest is at…

United Way Lobbies the Other Washington

Last week, over 1,100 volunteers and staff from United Ways around the country met with 440 Congressmen and Senators on Capital Hill to advocate for a number of priorities including: reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act; increased funding for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA); and support for state 2-1-1 (information and referral) programs. The advocacy efforts blanketed the Hill in a single afternoon and happened several days before passage of health care reform. The effort added nine new…