“Dear Senator Murray and Representatives Pedersen and Chopp:

Cutting funding programs benefiting children’s rights is not an option. Without housing, education, and healthcare the future of Washington State will be uneducated, unhealthy, and homeless. Is this what you really want? Your continuing support for HB 1492, addressing independent youth housing, and HB 2261, concerning education programs, will make Washington a better place for everyone.”

- Tong Yuan ’11, Lake Washington Girls Middle School

Lake Washington Girls Middle School students know the facts...

• At least 50,000 people experience homelessness every year in Washington State.

• 250,000 Washington households must make desperate choices between necessities like food and healthcare, and rent.

• Families with children make up 47% of Washington’s homeless population.

...and are hard at work writing letters, making signs, and preparing to meet with their legislators in Olympia on Friday, February 12. Partnering with Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, the entire LWGMS community will hop on a bus (donated to the school for the day’s event) to join hundreds of our fellow advocates for HOUSING & HOMELESSNESS ADVOCACY DAY 2010 and tell our elected officials that "everyone deserves the opportunity to live in a safe, decent, and affordable home!"



Lake Washington Girls Middle School students are activists. Whether communicating with representatives in state government, preparing meals for and serving homeless communities and residents of local women’s shelters, or spearheading sustainability projects for their school and local community, our girls are informed, confident young women, independent thinkers, and powerful speakers who know that each of them has the ability and the right to implement change in the world. LWGMS is one of the most economically and ethnically diverse independent schools in Seattle, and as such, our curriculum encourages students to view the world from multiple perspectives, is designed to use multicultural resources, and provides diverse learning opportunities. At LWGMS, students develop a positive regard for differences and learn to be active citizens who use their voices to effect change.

This is the second time LWGMS students will travel to our state capitol to support a cause important to them. It certainly will not be the last.