{"id":4788,"date":"2026-02-20T18:47:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand.org\/washington\/?p=4788"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:21:59","slug":"olympia-empathy-action-advancement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand.org\/washington\/our-stories\/olympia-empathy-action-advancement\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympia: Empathy, Action, &amp; Advancement\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The last day of session (March 12th) will be here before you know it. This week marks the deadline for bills to be voted out of their \u201chouse of origin\u201d and move over to repeat the process in the opposite chamber.&nbsp; Keep reading to find out how you can continue to stand up for youth and families across our state in the final days of session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Day of Empathy<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>What a powerful day! More than 100 advocates from across the state came together in over 40 lawmaker meetings to advocate for justice system transformation. Many of the priority bills did not advance this session, so conversations focused on HB 2389, the individualized justice for youth act. . It was a powerful reminder to our lawmakers that Washington youth deserve better outcomes\u2014ones centered on community support, accountability, and well-being. Thank you to everyone who showed up and made your voices heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Individualized Justice for Youth Act (HB 2389)<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>This bill is hanging tough. Through multiple rounds of edits, we are still pushing to get it voted off the House Floor. You can help achieve this by <a href=\"https:\/\/act.stand.org\/a\/hb-2389\">contacting your lawmakers<\/a> in support of community supervision over youth prison. We are so grateful to the many of you who took action and showed your support for community-rooted solutions. Your advocacy continues to make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cell Phone Bill<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>This bill is moving forward with bipartisan support \u2014 an important milestone. However, the language is not yet strong enough to support clear bell-to-bell policies. Parents, students, and educators made it very clear during the hearing that they want more decisive action from the state. That action has yet to happen. We remain in daily conversations about how we can continue advancing policies that truly support phone-free schools and student well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9th Grade Success<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>Securing $1.5 million in the final budget remains one of our top priorities. This critical initiative supports 19,000 students statewide, and we are committed to ensuring this work continues. We will be in touch soon with additional opportunities to advocate for and support students through this effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Never forget: the systems we live in are capable of change. We are absolutely in challenging times, but we continue to find hope and resilience in community \u2014 in people like you. Thank you for staying engaged in the state policy decisions that shape the lives of so many young people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last day of session (March 12th) will be here before you know it. This week marks the deadline for bills to be voted out of their \u201chouse of origin\u201d and move over to repeat the process in the opposite chamber.&nbsp; Keep reading to find out how you can continue to stand up for youth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":4636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","color_schema":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation","category-newsletter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Empathy in Action: Advocating for Youth Justice - Stand for Children Washington<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover how empathy drives change for youth and families in Washington. 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