The Return of The Arc’s Legislative Forum
On September 18th, The Arc of Snohomish County hosted its first large in-person Legislative Forum since 2018. Legislative Forums are disability advocacy events held during election years for state legislators and legislative candidates to connect with and hear directly from the Snohomish County intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) community. Legislative Forums feature speakers who share their professional and lived experiences about policy topics impacting the IDD community. Following speaker presentations, all attending legislators and legislative candidates have the opportunity to share their remarks. In the 2020 and 2022 election years, The Arc of Snohomish County held Legislative Forums virtually over Zoom and individually by legislative district.
The return to an all-district in-person Legislative Forum this year was significant for a few reasons. As in previous years prior to 2020, the 2024 Legislative Forum was held in the Weyerhaeuser Room, the formal banquet hall at the Everett Station. Returning to the large venue, The Arc invited the attendance of all legislators, legislative candidates, and community members from each of the 8 legislative districts within Snohomish County. The Arc was honored to be joined by 14 Washington State legislators and legislative candidates, and dozens of community members. In a departure from previous years, the 2024 Legislative Forum expressly included time at the end for post-event networking. Legislators, candidates, and community members stayed after the event to connect organically, take pictures, and share disability advocacy stories.
The Arc is very grateful to the 8 speakers who shared their professional and lived experiences about policy topics affecting the IDD community in Snohomish County and beyond. The highlighted advocacy topics were care providers, mental health supports, and affordable housing for people with IDD. The group of 2024 Legislative Forum speakers was composed of self-advocates with IDD, parents and caregivers of children with IDD, and professionals in the topic fields.
The 2024 Legislative Forum slideshow, policy priorities, and follow up flyers and resources are available in the Legislative Forum online resource folder. This event was livestreamed and recorded on Zoom for accessibility.
For more photos of the event, check out The Arc of Snohomish County’s official Instagram account: @arcsnohomishleads.
All local Washington State representative positions and some senator positions are up for election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Register to vote or check your voter registration status at VoteWA.org.VoteWA.org.
Thank you to the speakers, legislators, legislative candidates, and community members who made the 2024 Legislative Forum a resounding success!
The Arc of Snohomish County’s Executive Director stands at a podium and delivers her opening speech at the Legislative Forum.