A friend passed this email my way. Hopefully we can help make this happen:
Important legislation in our domain (foster youth entering college) is before the State Legislature this week. In fact, the bill has advanced to the executive session and may be entertained as early as late this afternoon. The Green Team has sent its endorsement of the bill to the sponsors and to our own State Representatives.
If you would like to assist foster youth by encouraging the passage of a bill that would provide incentives to Washington colleges, technical schools and universities to enroll and retain foster youth, please consider sending the following message by e-mail to the bill's sponsor
and to your own representatives:
"I am writing in support of House Bill 1131, the Passport to College bill that provides encouragement to the State's postsecondary institutions to take affirmative steps to attract and retain former foster youth until they have successfully completed their education. Foster youth face enormous hurdles and they deserve our support. I believe that the State has a responsibility to foster youth that is unique, and that as a moral obligation continues beyond their 18th birthday. Moreover, helping foster youth become productive, contributing, members to Washington's economy simply makes sense as public policy. Finally, I would encourage the Legislature to stress the importance of pro actively connecting foster youth to social service opportunities already available at most of Washington's institutions of higher learning. Based on conversations I have had with current and former foster youth, I believe that providing foster youth a social service safety net in the form of a mentor, advisor or big brother or sister is the single most important thing our educational institutions can do to assure that foster youth stay in school."
The web page for the bill is:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1131&year=2007 If
that doesn't work, you can find the bill by going to the State Legislature website and search for House Bill 1131 by its bill number.
You will see that the bill's page lists the sponsors, with hyperlinks to the sponsors' web pages and e-mail. You will need to click on a sponsor's name and fill in your personal details. You will likely be
told the sponsor is not in your district, and will be asked if you would like to send anyway. The answer is yes. From there, you will be directed to a page where you can cut and paste the above message. From the "not your representative screen," you can also follow the links to find your own representative and cut and paste from there.
<DDad note - sounds complicated!>
This is a very important piece of legislation and your support is deeply appreciated.
Comments