Advocacy

We advocate for long-lasting health solutions so that all children, families and communities may flourish.

We Believe, So We Act

We believe all families deserve to be healthy. WithinReach leads a collaborative effort with key partners, providers and policymakers to connect community health and social service systems together so that we can serve families better. By identifying the barriers and inefficiencies in these systems, we are able to build policies that improve the whole system.

Legislative Priorities

WithinReach knows that structural racism significantly harms individuals, families and community health and well-being. As part of our legislative advocacy, we commit to proactively identifying and dismantling racist structures and policies, to reduce the social injustice and health disparities experienced by Black, Indigenous and Families of Color in Washington State. This commitment drives our legislative priorities this year, which include:

Building a Help Me Grow System in Washington

Many kids face barriers that hinder their health, development and learning opportunities. We request the legislature provide $1 million per biennium in ongoing funding for the statewide coordinated access point to expand the reach of Help Me Grow in Washington. Help Me Grow is a community-driven, resource and referral linkage system that connects young children and their families to appropriate services and community supports. Parents, caregivers, early learning, health and other service providers can call, text or email Help Me Grow and connect to caring people who are highly trained in child development. The resource navigators listen to families’ needs and link them to the most appropriate services. The pandemic has further highlighted the critical need for building a Help Me Grow system in Washington that can be responsive in connecting families to critical resources and services.

Improve Overall Health and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on the health and livelihood of individuals and families across Washington. We support efforts to build responsive programs and initiatives that make it easier for all families to access and benefit from the health resources and community supports they need to be healthy and safe, and ultimately recover from the public health emergency. Such efforts include building a high-quality quarantine support program for people who need extra help while isolating to help prevent the spread of COVID-19; ensuring there is a strong plan with an equity lens for distributing the vaccine to individuals and communities throughout the state; and building the systems and programs needed for families to recover from the crisis.

How We Help

Learn more about how we serve families, strengthen communities and advocate for change.

See Our Programs