At Children’s Alliance, we see a future in which all of Washington's children have an abundance of what they need to grow up to be the people they dream of becoming.  Our 2025 legislative agenda highlights policy priorities in our three primary issue areas: early learning, health equity, and economic justice.

Dr. Stephan Blanford, Senator Noel Frame, Representative Lisa Callan, and Reid Saaris discuss policy solutions to address the youth behavioral health crisis.

Exploring the expansion, improvement, and promotion of school-based behavioral health solutions to address the youth behavioral health crisis.

Washington voters spoke up for kids in the 2024 election and roundly defeated I-2109, the ballot initiative that would have repealed our state’s capital gains tax and cut billions from early learning, child care, K-12 education and school construction. 

Our new report offers an updated look at opportunities for breakthrough progress in Washington's adolescent mental health crisis.

Stephan reflects on his time in Montgomery attending The Alabama Experience - the annual conference of the Alliance for Early Success.

Our 2023-2024 Progress Report highlights key victories and crucial partnerships over the past year.

Last month, we conducted our annual member survey and received 182 responses from engaged members of our community.

In what unique ways are communities in different areas of the state experiencing common issues? This was the question guiding our work as we embarked on stakeholder engagement activities across Washington state late last month.

As part of our work to address the youth mental health crisis, we recently sent a letter to Senator Cantwell in support of legislation to empower parents to make decisions about how their children use social media and the internet.

In this post, we’ll discuss what is contributing to those leading rankings, and we’ll share some of the advocacy we’re doing to continue pushing for progress in in these areas, particularly for children furthest from opportunity.

Earlier this month, the Annie E. Casey Foundation published its 2024 KIDS COUNT® National Data Book, which ranks states in overall well-being and across four categories.

This year, we selected eight legislators who demonstrated leadership and commitment in advancing policies that will promote racial equity, health equity, economic justice, and improved early learning and childcare.

Washington is making progress in terms of overall child wellbeing. However, our state still has plenty of room to improve, especially in terms of education and economic well-being.

Every legislative session, Children’s Alliance works with advocates from across the state to advance policies that support Washington’s kids and families. On June 6, many of the bills we advocated for during the 2024 legislative session will go into effect.

Dr. Stephan Blanford reflects on our conversation with bestselling author Ijeoma Oluo at this year’s Voices for Children event.

To celebrate Child Care Provider Appreciation Day, we spoke to Lois A. Martin, MA, Director of Community Day Center for Children, about what brings her joy, the importance of racial equity in early learning, and the challenges that child care providers face.

Our state’s preschool programs score highly in the National Institute for Early Education Research’s State of Preschool report. Now lawmakers need to take steps to ensure more families can access them.

We are excited to announce that Stephanie Thorpe has taken on the position of Children Alliance Board Chair! Learn more about her in our short interview.

We made important steps forward this legislative session, particularly in the areas of youth behavioral health and child care affordability. Read our full report to learn about the progress of all of our top priority legislation.