Education
Thanks to your strong support, House Bill 1303, our bill to ensure that environmental justice is considered in Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act, is still alive! By passing HB 1303 into law, we can get one step closer to healthier communities for all Washingtonians.
Many bills and environmental justice bills in particular have not made it this far in this year’s legislative session. We need you to take action before 4:00pm on Tuesday, March 11 to ensure that HB 1303 is voted on by the full House of Representatives!
Please take thirty seconds to tell your state representatives to stand with frontline communities! All you need to do is to fill out this short form and hit send:
We seek a Just Transition away from an extraction-based economy to one centered on ecological restoration, community resilience, and social equity, fueled by regenerative resources and cooperative work, governed by deep democracy, and a culture of caring and sacredness.
Meaningful, authentic collaboration can be hard, and it requires consistent trust-building work at every step of grantmaking. However, our transportation grant program showed that it can be done and that it is a far superior approach because both the processes and outcomes are more equitable and impactful.
Our latest report, Gardening for Transportation Justice, is the culmination of our work with the Washington State Department of Transportation and nineteen grantee organizations from frontline communities. Together, we came up with recommendations for anyone interested in following our model of community-centered, collaborative grantmaking to advance carbon reduction solutions and climate justice.
Download the full report and find all our past policy papers and interactive tools at our all-new Climate Justice landing page! (You can also find it under Reports and Tools.)
How would you define climate justice? Do you think you’d define it the same way Front and Centered does? And do you know how we try to advance climate justice through our work in Washington State?
Check out our all-new Climate Justice webpage! You’ll find answers to these questions, the latest updates we’re tracking in the world of transportation, energy, and climate resilience, and more!
Our priority legislation House Bill 1303—a modified version of the CURB Pollution Act—did not make it to the floor for a full House vote. This means that the bill will not advance any further this year. While this is disappointing, we are committed to using the time between now and next session to strengthen our CURB coalition and continue pushing for policies that address the cumulative harm facing Washington’s frontline communities..
Check out our legislative agenda landing page for more information on where we’re headed for the rest of the 2025 session!
Communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and people with lower incomes are on the frontlines of the climate and environmental crisis. For the 2025 legislative session, our coalition of frontline communities will focus on holding the legislature accountable to its commitments to climate justice, environmental justice, and the well-being of frontline communities.
Thank you for joining us for the launch of our 2025 Legislative Agenda! You can learn more about our priorities for this session, watch our briefing video, and check out related resources:
Thank you to our coalition members and partners in government and community who have made our work to advance community-centered transportation justice leadership such a success!
Front and Centered worked in partnership with the Washington State Department of Transportation to reimagine granting and to prioritize the funding of community-led transportation solutions to curb carbon emissions statewide. (Learn more at our Transportation Justice page.)
The HEAL Act affirms that communities have fundamental rights to a healthy environment and that we have every right to use them. However, rights need to be properly articulated, resourced, and integrated into state agencies to be protected and exercised.
In the second edition of our HEAL Progress Report—the 2024 Frontline Report on HEAL Progress—Front and Centered examines the state’s implementation of the HEAL Act three years after its passage, identifies key challenges in that process, and provides clear recommendations for moving forward and realizing the vision of the HEAL Act.
Frontline communities don’t just need to survive—we need to thrive. Our communities will only be stronger and more effective the more connected we are to each other, and the more we are able to support each other in our efforts to create the change we need and the future we want. That’s why we’re excited to announce the Just Transition Leadership Program.
Join us in creating a collective movement toward a more just and equitable future!
Thanks to the mobilization and determination of our coalition members and frontline communities, Front and Centered secured funds to shape implementation of the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act and create the HEAL Community! Fund.
Watch the video to learn who is eligible for grants through the fund, and then use the links below to find detailed information and start your application!
In a new report, Exposing False Solutions: How Washington’s Cap and Trade Program Gives Industrial Polluters a Free Pass, Front and Centered explores our state’s cap-and-trade scheme which provides allowances to many of Washington’s biggest polluters and its impacts on our communities.
In a new report, A Transportation Justice Agenda for Washington State, Front and Centered is proposing a sweeping agenda for justice to reorient the way we invest our transportation dollars and prioritize safety with clear standards for improving transit and safe sidewalks and crosswalks.
The report also features some information from the Washington Transit Access Map, which just launched today!
