FamilyWorks Family Resource Center and Food Banks

Josie McKinley, the King County Outreach Director for Senator Maria Cantwell, visited our Family Resource Center this month to learn more about our work and the impact of FRCs on families and the community. We gave her a tour of our FRC and the broader Cedar Crossing affordable housing community, and shared how vital it is to co-locate support services onsite at affordable housing developments. Cedar Crossing, where our FRC is located, is home to a wide range of services from Bellwether Housing, Mercy Housing, El Centro de la Raza, and FamilyWorks. We also shared some policy requests for Senator Cantwell, including a request that the Senator support the reauthorization of Title IV-B via House-passed HR9076 by the end of the year. This reauthorization includes language to support Family Resource Centers in state child welfare prevention work, including by establishing the first federal definition for FRCs (which is needed to access funding) and adding more family support and mental health support for families. Our other policy request was that Senator Cantwell express her support to ensure the end-of-year package that Congress will vote on includes language that allows states to choose to use a portion of their Social Services Block Grant funding to support services and programs at school and community-based Family Resource Centers. Thank you, Josie, for meeting with us and visiting our FRC! We are so grateful to Senator Cantwell and her staff for taking the time to speak with us and hear about what her constituents are experiencing.

Our Executive Director Marcia Wright-Soika will be speaking at Shelterforce's latest installment of their "Meet Me at the Intersection of Housing" series! Click the link below to register for this virtual event!

We were honored to attend Pramila Jayapal's event yesterday, celebrating the $19.6 million in 2024 Community Project Funding she secured for our community, including $750,000 for FamilyWorks' Wallingford Food Bank renovation. It was inspiring to hear from the 13 other organizations that received support -- all vital local projects moving forward thanks to Congresswoman Jayapal's efforts to secure funding. As an organization that has spent decades on the frontlines of food insecurity and family services, FamilyWorks finds ourselves in uncharted territory when it comes to the level of need we are seeing in the community. Congresswoman Jayapal took the time to visit FamilyWorks and meet with our team so she could understand what we are seeing on the ground. She listened and channeled those conversations into securing resources for all the communities she represents. Because of her leadership in securing Community Project Funding, FamilyWorks will move forward with a long-awaited renovation and expansion of our Wallingford Food Bank, doubling our capacity and ensuring more families have access to fresh, culturally relevant foods and support services that help meet their basic needs. We look forward to opening our doors to a renewed space that reflects the compassion and dedication of everyone working to combat hunger and support families. Thank you again to Congresswoman Jayapal for helping to make this possible, and for all she's done to help us build a more vibrant, equitable community for families across the region.

"We all want a political environment where the community trusts our elected officials and where we all have a voice in the decisions that impact our lives. These voices include human service providers with expertise on solutions to the community’s most persistent social problems as well as community members with diverse opinions and lived experiences." FamilyWorks Executive Director Marcia Wright-Soika joined fellow Seattle Human Services Coalition advocates Marissa Perez and Jen Muzia for an Op-Ed highlighting the importance of transparency and community input in policy-making and funding decisions. Click the link below to read their full editorial in The Stranger. https://lnkd.in/gPHcxRaZ

We're hiring a Director of Programs to lead FamilyWorks’ overall programmatic operations, program impact, and evaluation strategies. This position will lead FamilyWorks’ approach to measuring and enhancing our impact on key stakeholders and program participants. The Director of Programs will provide overall strategic and operational leadership, direction, support, and oversight to two major program units – Food Access and Family Programs – and ensure their alignment with our mission, strategic plan, and commitment to advancing racial and social justice. Salary range: $100,000-$125,000. Learn more and apply at https://lnkd.in/gkueq6WJ

Our executive director, Marcia Wright-Soika, is speaking on a panel on Fundraising Approaches that Work. Tickets are free, so register today!

Join the FamilyWorks team! We're currently hiring for three positions: - Family Programs and Home Visitor Specialist - Diaper and Community Closet Coordinator - FamilyWorks HungerCorps Member Click the link to view the full job descriptions and apply today! https://lnkd.in/gnTVtz8d

When we launched the Nourishing Communities Campaign in late 2022, we had faith that we would reach our goal of raising $5 million to construct a new family resource center, renovate our food bank, expand our programs and partnerships, and invest in our staff. However, we never imagined that we would surpass our objectives and deepen our impact to such an extent. Today, we are honored to announce an extraordinary development: FamilyWorks has received a remarkable $3 million gift from a local anonymous donor towards our mission. A portion of this generous contribution will be put toward our capital campaign goal, enabling us to acquire our Family Resource Center at Cedar Crossing, a significant stride that previously seemed out of reach. The transformative power of owning our own facility cannot be overstated. It provides us with stability, and allows us to tailor our services to the specific needs of our community with greater flexibility and autonomy. With the future acquisition of the Family Resource Center secured, we can now shift our focus towards renovating our food bank in Wallingford and reinforcing our infrastructure. We are committed to making critical investments in FamilyWorks that empower us to serve our community effectively, for many years to come. We are not only enhancing our physical infrastructure but also addressing sector-wide challenges of equity and fairness in the compensation of human service workers. The success of the campaign has allowed us to prioritize wage equity for our staff, and we are on a path to ensuring that all members of our team are valued, supported, and compensated fairly for their contributions, as we deliver care in neighborhoods throughout North Seattle. Our new target campaign goal is $7 million, which puts us on the path to reach this expanded vision, and significantly enhances our impact on the community. As of today, we have raised $6.23 million towards this ambitious goal. We invite you to join us in our ongoing efforts – we can accomplish so much more working together, in community. Click the link in the comments to donate to our Nourishing Communities Capital Campaign today.