African-American Legislative Day highlights education, health care issues

OLYMPIA – It’s as much a part of the legislative landscape as the lobbyists and pages: busloads of ordinary citizens come to the Capitol Campus in Olympia armed with information packets, legislative agendas and an appointment to meet with their lawmakers. Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma said that organizations that sponsor legislative days provide citizens with valuable information and the opportunity to effectively lobby their legislators.

“You know, there are people who want to get involved in civic activism but are afraid to speak with or don’t know how to approach their legislators. A legislative day provides camaraderie and a learning environment to do that,” said Franklin, the only African-American Washington state senator. “There are many on-going issues surrounding disparities in the African-American community, especially in health care, education and social justice. The question then becomes, ‘How can our community rise up to these challenges?’ And I believe that is what African-American Legislative Day is all about.”

More than 1,000 people are expected to participate in this year’s event. Several workshops, including one to promote citizen activism among African-American youth, are scheduled. In addition to education and health care, the group’s legislative agenda includes:

• continued funding of the Link Deposit program;
• addressing disproportionality in foster care; and
• the offender re-entry program.

African-American Legislative Day 2007 will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday,
Feb. 12 on Olympia’s Capitol Campus. For more information, please contact Rosalund Jenkins, executive director of the Washington State Commission on African-American Affairs, at 360-725-5663.

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