Every quarter, we make a point to highlight and thank the funding partners that make our work possible. It’s only through the contributions of our grantors, volunteers, and other supporters that Solid Ground is able to provide flexible support to over 67,000 people across the region every year. Thank you!

In this first quarter of 2022, we’d like to highlight a long-time partner, Legal Foundation of Washington (LFW). For over 20 years, LFW’s support has enabled our Benefits Legal Assistance (BLA) program to provide legal counsel and direct representation to people being kept from accessing the state public benefits they need.

LFW invests in programs and strategies that make our state a fair and just place to live by funding civil legal aid, impact litigation, policy reform, and systemic advocacy. Since its creation in 1984, they’ve distributed more than $200 million to Washington’s legal aid community, including over $2.5 million to Solid Ground!

Every year, LFW’s partnership with our BLA program allows us to provide holistic legal support to an average of 125 households that have had their public benefits reduced, terminated, or denied. Beyond providing legal advice and direct representation, our BLA staff also provides training and legal education to service providers – and engages in systems-change efforts to address racist systems that lead Black, Indigenous, and other people of color to experience disparate outcomes when accessing public benefits.

Check out this short video about our partnership with LFW:

Our partnership with LFW has been especially critical over the past two years, as BLA helped people navigate complex and dynamic changes to public benefits programs throughout the pandemic. And as agencies revert to pre-pandemic requirements and administrative structures, Solid Ground, LFW, and the local network of civil legal aid providers are working hard to advocate for policy and administrative changes that center the needs of clients.

We’re so grateful for LFW’s support over the years to ensure that Washington’s social benefits are more accessible and equitable for all community members!

We can’t work toward our vision of a community beyond poverty and oppression without collaboration and thoughtful partnership.

Thank you to these other recent grantors that helped fuel Solid Ground’s work in the first quarter of 2022:

• Community Catalyst

• Biella Foundation

• CareQuest Institute for Oral Health

• Microsoft

• NW Children’s Foundation

• US Bank Foundation

• Hugh & Jane Ferguson Foundation

• PCC Community Markets

• Sound Credit Union

Want to join our amazing supporters in helping to remove barriers along people’s journeys out of poverty? Check out our many Ways to Give!