Front and Centered

06/05/2026

We're pleased to announce that $20,000 grants will be awarded to nine community organizations whose capacity building efforts are aligned with and will advance the goals of the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act! 🥳🥳

This is our third year administering a grant program in service to the vision and goals of the , and we received 117 grant applications for this round, from eighteen different counties across . We're proud of the expanded outreach we’ve done across Washington to make sure as many people as possible know about this grant opportunity, but we're mindful that the size of the applicant pool is reflective of the growing, urgent necessity for funding which addresses frontline communities' essential, everyday needs that are impacted by environmental injustices.

Our grantees will be working on a stunning variety of projects: equal access to safe, clean drinking water; addressing environmental injustices that impact air quality, housing security, and food access; a climate resiliency and environmental stewardship program; and much more! Projects like these are vital, community-centered solutions that must be fostered if we are to achieve the HEAL Act's vision of a healthy environment for all.

No matter where we live, we all deserve the benefits of a healthy environment, from clean air and safe water to accessible transportation, affordable clean energy, affordable nutritious food, and more. Thank you to all nine of our grantee organizations who are a part of the movement working toward making this a reality for all Washingtonians:

Kwiaht Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea (San Juan County)
Beacon Hill Council (King County)
CAFE: The Community for the Advancement of Family Education (Chelan County)
C2C: Community to Community Development (Whatcom County)
LIGHT Foundation (Okanagan County)
WOW: Women of Wisdom Tri-Cities (Benton County)
Mason County Climate Justice - MCCJ (Mason County)
Sakura 39ers Youth Association (Clark County)
Thurston Climate Action Team (Thurston County)

(Photos are from our first ever HEAL grant program gathering two years ago.)

05/07/2026

📖New Blog Post Alert 📖

Content Specialist, Kat Husiak, and Environmental Justice Analyst, Maiko, reflect on our second annual Advocacy Day event, its unique strengths, and its impacts on this year's highly-successful Legislative Session.

Read this 7-minute piece to learn about:
🎯 2026 policy goals and accomplishments
📣 Collective power of frontline community members
🌅 Engaging youth in policy processes
🤯 And much, much more!

“Power to the People: Advocacy Day for the 2026 Washington Legislative Session” => https://frontandcentered.org/power-to-the-people-advocacy-day-for-the-2026-washington-state-legislative-session/

Thanks again to our participants and partners from Outreach and Transform Lives, Asian Pacific Islanders Coalition-Yakima Valley, Duwamish River Community Coalition, Coalition for Migrants and Refugees, Africans on the Eastside, Mason County Climate Justice - MCCJ, Washington State Community Action Partnership, NW Energy Coalition, Franklin PUD, Charlee Thompson and Guillermo Rogel Jr., and Sharlett Mena.

On the sunny morning of February 19th, community members and Front and Centered staff donned their matching green and white-striped scarves and stepped onto our State Capitol Campus in Olympia to advocate for the well-being of Washington’s frontline communities. We have rarely faced such a difficu...

05/01/2026

Our coalition got the chance to celebrate the passing of House Bill 1903, our top policy priority this last legislative session!

HB 1903 is a bill that establishes a low-income monthly energy bill assistance program that is funded by the . Championed by House Representative Sharlett Mena and a coalition of community-based organizations, this new Energy Assistance Program will:

⚡ Provide sustained and predictable tiered bill assistance based on income rather than one-time bill credits.
⚡ Reduce administrative burden on utilities, community-based organizations, and households.
⚡ Streamline enrollment through automatic eligibility for SNAP recipients and recipients of other state programs with similar eligibility criteria.

In this challenging moment, it’s important to take time to celebrate our victories with community, including delicious appetizers and celebratory speeches recounting the hard work and dedication of the folks who made HB 1903 possible. Seeing Rep Beth Doglio, Rep. Jamila Taylor, utility partners, and community-based organizations all together was a reminder of the collaborative effort needed to get financial support to people at a time when rates continue to climb.

Every day we tirelessly advance the priorities of frontline communities in Washington to ensure a healthy and affordable future for all. We look forward to even more celebrations in the future!

Washington State Community Action Partnership
NW Energy Coalition
Governor Bob Ferguson

04/23/2026

The Margin is hosting a very cool webinar this evening (5pm Pacific Time)! Join Aqsa Mengal, our Climate and Clean Energy Policy Lead, in conversation with Reporter Amal Ahmed, Photographer Chona Kasinger, and Managing Editor Ko Bragg. They'll be talking about our work to pass House Bill 1903 and the landscape in ! 🤩🤩

RSVP here: https://riverside.com/webinar/directlink/eyJldmVudElkIjoiNjlkNTU2M2I3MDcwZTE1YmU4NWRiNGViIiwic2x1ZyI6ImJyeWNlLWNyYWNrbmVsbHMtc3R1ZGlvIn0=

04/23/2026

We've got a special blog post for you for , all about the !

It’s been five years since the Climate Commitment Act became law in . Since that time, we’ve been intimately involved in how the law is being carried out—whether it’s calling for budget writers to meet the law’s funding obligations to frontline communities, opposing a ballot initiative that would have repealed the law, or redirecting funds generated by the law to those hit first and worst by climate change impacts.

But what is the Climate Commitment Act? Why do we involve ourselves with a law that, before its passage, we actually opposed? Let’s talk about it and break down what the CCA gets right, where it's inherently flawed, AND how frontline communities can benefit if we continue to keep an eye on and influence the way the law is being carried out.

READ NOW: https://frontandcentered.org/five-years-of-the-climate-commitment-act-and-what-it-means-for-communities-in-washington/

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Week!

There is a reason why we focus on coalition-building to strengthen collective action across Washington for environmental and climate justice issues. It works. For frontline communities, collective action is a powerful tool that has been an effectively used to combat systemic injustices.

Check out this inspirational example of the power of collective action by watching the screening of Necessity the Film: Climate Justice and the Thin Green Line. It follows the brave activists—led by Indigenous people—in the Pacific Northwest about their opposition to oil cargo transportation and their work in demanding proper cleanup response to a severe oil cargo derailment.

Watch the trailer at NecessityTheMovie.Com and go to the comments of this video to see how to watch the film screening!

Thank you to Rainier Avenue Radio and Social Justice Film Institute for hosting the screening, and Doc Society + Exposure Labs inaugural Climate Story Lab, The Fledgling Fund Call for Projects on Climate Change, and The Puffin Foundation for supporting the film’s production.

Stay tuned for more Earth Day and Earth Week content coming your way!

Justice

04/16/2026

On days like (which is coming up soon!) we often get asked: what’s the best way to get started when it comes to combating climate change and environmental injustices? Where does one even start?

Well, as a coalition of frontline communities, we have some thoughts about that. 😎 Check out our latest blog post, where we explain why we believe Earth Day happens every day, what community-centered solutions to climate change can look like, and how folks new to or can hit the ground running as they start on their journey!

On Earth Day you might wonder where you can get started on combating climate change and environmental injustices. Here's our recommendation.

04/02/2026

In case you haven't read it yet, check out The Margin's excellent reporting on the need for statewide low-income energy assistance in , like the kind House Bill 1903 will establish now that it has been passed and signed.

Published after the passage of HB 1903 but before the bill was signed by Governor Ferguson, the article quotes Aqsa Mengal, our Climate and Clean Energy Policy Lead:

“One of our goals is that a state-run program will provide sustained and predictable assistance, not just one-time bill credits.... It could also reduce burdensome applications for people who need help (for example, allowing SNAP recipients to automatically enroll) and for the agencies that serve them, by creating one umbrella of funding instead of a patchwork of grants and programs.”

Go to The Margin's post for more!

04/01/2026

We did it! Thanks to you and to all our supporters who took action to advocate for our frontline communities these past few months, we were able to make some real ground on helping Washington families who need it most.

While it was a short legislative session, we successfully defended funding for from being cut, and we passed HB 1903 to bring much-needed energy bill relief to people across the state. Just yesterday, Governor Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law—and we've got some photos to share with you here. 😄🥰

For over several years now, we've been working with our coalition, partners, and fellow and environmental justice advocates on bringing statewide energy assistance to Washingtonians to ensure that frontline communities aren't left behind in the clean energy transition. Whether you advocated alongside us in Olympia, signed in PRO, sent a letter to your lawmakers, or boosted our calls to action, we couldn't have done this without you, and we are so grateful for your support! 🧡💛💚❤️



Mother Africa
Washington State Coalition of African Community Leaders
Statewide Poverty Action Network
Latino Community Fund of Washington State
Asia Pacific Cultural Center
United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance - WA

03/11/2026

Over the last two months, you’ve shown up for frontline communities and for House Bill 1903. Our calls to action have resulted in nearly two thousand of you signing in PRO, thousands of emails being sent to lawmakers, countless lobby meetings—and finally, the passage of this important bill!

The last action we need to take to bring monthly energy bill assistance to Washingtonians in need is to tell Governor Bob Ferguson to sign our bill and make it law. We’re not taking anything for granted this legislative session, so we’re asking you to help us one more time to get this bill across the finish line.

URGE GOVERNOR FERGUSON TO SIGN HB 1903: https://win.newmode.net/urge-gov-ferguson-to-sign-hb1903

Use the link above to take action and email the governor! Messages from real constituents make a real difference. The more of us he hears from, the harder we will be to ignore.

Please take just one minute to make a lasting difference for thousands of Washington families. We’ve come this far together—let’s make HB 1903 a reality!




Washington State Community Action Partnership
NW Energy Coalition
Washington State Coalition of African Community Leaders
Mother Africa
Washington State Catholic Conference
Bob Ferguson