Throwback Thursday: Lobby Days
Grassroots Lobbying at the Capitol is engrained into the legacy and character of WashingtonCAN. In our earliest days as the Seattle/Tacoma Light Brigade in the late 1970s and shortly after as Washington Fair Share, established in ‘83, we recognized the great power that is held by the people and must be leveraged to hold elected officials accountable to the needs of the communities they represent.
In 1990, Washington Fair Share became Washington Citizen Action, making a distinct shift to ACTION as a basis for their work for an equitable, inclusive, and prosperous Washington by empowering communities to take action in legislation, local elections, demonstrations, and uplifting the stories of directly-impacted constituents to their elected representatives.
WCA celebrated many successes through grassroots activism at the Capitol including Healthcare Reform, Closing Corporate Loopholes, Establishing a Patient Bill of Rights, Establishing & Maintaining the Highest National Minimum Wage, and Expanding Food Assistance for Hungry Families.
In 2006, Washington Citizen Action furthered its position on inclusion by becoming Washington Community Action Network. A name more fitting for an organization that represents all Washingtonians, regardless of documentation status, and seeks to connect individuals into a stronger network of power.
WashingtonCAN continues to build upon the foundation that was started by those first grassroots members of the 70’s and 80’s, more deeply diversifying the organization, gaining a base of directly-impacted community members, and empowering the marginalized in all spaces and places, especially the Capitol where the needs and interests of the people should be most prevalent.
Lobby Day is a day that WashingtonCAN takes tremendous pride in, it has become an honored tradition that we celebrate every year. A day that our membership, the largest grassroots organization in Washington, relies on to access their representatives where they will not be denied.
Our most recent iteration of Lobby Day is in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, involving BIPOC, students, the New American Majority, and the continued efforts of directly-impacted communities to gain power in numbers so that we may represent the voices of many on issues our communities face.
This year, we will continue to honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the efforts of the members of our organization that came before us and hold Lobby Day on January 15th, 2024 at 11:15 at the Washington State Labor Council in Olympia, WA. We encourage all of our members to join us, whether you’ve been lobbying with WashingtonCAN for decades or you’re interested in taking your first steps in grassroots lobbying, we have a space for you, and a platform for you to be heard.