Get Involved in Advocacy
Seattle Colleges encourages its employees, students, and alumni to be active civically and to share their values and views with their legislators and representatives—that may include advocacy for funding or projects or programs that support Seattle Colleges.
Remember: state ethics law prohibits college employees from using college equipment or time to participate in or assist in an effort to lobby the state legislature or a state agency head except as provided by RCW 42.17A.635(3).
Why Advocacy Matters
In the 2019 and 2020 sessions of the Washington Legislature, state lawmakers passed budgets that included the most significant investments in higher education in the last 10+ years. The historic Workforce Education Investment Act (HB 2158), passed in the 2019 session, appropriated $376 million in revenue for post-secondary education and workforce training.
For Seattle Colleges, this new investment:
- Fully funded the Washington College Grant Program which will remove financial barriers for thousands of our students and others cross the state.
- Enabled us to continue implementation of the Seattle Pathways initiative to increase academic and counseling services to support more students in completing certificate and degree programs.
- Allowed us to provide fair compensation to faculty and staff who richly deserve it, particularly as they face the significantly higher-than-averages cost of living in the Greater Seattle area.
- Invested in the expansion of high-demand STEM and nursing degree programs to serve the growing needs in the central Puget Sound region.
With the health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis, it will be incumbent upon all of us to maintain our advocacy efforts in support of the educational and career goals of our current and future students. We look forward to working with you in that critical undertaking.
Seattle Central College Advocates
A coalition of Seattle Central College alumni, students, faculty, employees, and concerned citizens working to ensure that higher education is a priority in Washington State.
Note: Seattle Central College Advocates is not funded at public expense. The views expressed on their website are solely those of that organization and do not represent the positions of Seattle Central College or Seattle Colleges.
North Seattle College Advocates
A similar group is being organized at North Seattle College. More information to come.
At this time we do not have an organized advocates group for South Seattle College.