Last fall, WashPIRG students at the University of Washington and the Evergreen State College took action towards ending hunger, protecting wildlife, making textbooks affordable, and lowering the cost of healthcare! With over 100 volunteers and student leaders this year, WashPIRG has continued to lead the way advocating for a greener, healthier, and more meaningful future for students statewide.
Tackling Student Hunger
No one should have to worry about whether they will have food on their plate or a roof over their head. But the reality is that hunger and homelessness are widespread problems that affect far too many people. This is absurd when the United States produces more than enough food for everyone. In fact, we produce so much food that we waste 40 percent of it. And yet millions of Americans are going hungry. That should not happen. This year we participated in the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. We held 6 educational, service, and advocacy events this week to raise awareness for this issue. We mobilized dozens of students across the state to tackle this critical issue!
Saving the Southern Resident Orcas in the Puget Sound
The southern resident orcas in the Puget Sound are critically endangered, with less than 75 of them left. Scientists say they won’t survive, unless we save their main food source, the chinook salmon. We can save our salmon by breaching four dams in the Lower Snake River. So, WashPIRG students have been building support to breach these dams and save our orcas! So far, students have collected over 1,000 petitions in support of the campaign!
Bringing down the cost of Healthcare
Americans are spending way too much on health care, and getting far too little in return. Health care costs are spiraling out of control, sapping the nation’s resources and throwing families, businesses and governments into financial crisis. In fact, 83% of Americans don’t know the price of their healthcare before receiving services, and are more prone to medical debt, getting overcharged, and avoid seeking care entirely. So, WashPIRG is working to raise visibility for this issue in Washington State, advocating for state policies that would bring down the cost of healthcare and bring student healthcare stories to light. This fall, WashPIRG hosted a state healthcare advocacy fair where groups from across Washington could connect students with resources to navigate the healthcare system and bring down the cost of healthcare in the state. This event educated hundreds of students in just one day!
Making Textbooks Affordable
Textbooks are WAY too expensive. The college board estimates that students should budget an average of $1,200 a year for textbooks and course materials. But they don’t need to be that expensive. This year WashPIRG is continuing to advocate for expanding open educational resources (OER) on campus. This fall we collected surveys from almost 300 students on campus at Evergreen and UW, and over 4,000 surveys from students across the country analyzing their experiences purchasing course materials. We used this data to release our most recent report: Fixing the Broken Textbooks Market, Fourth Edition.
Training the Next Generation of Public Interest Advocates
Every year, we get thousands of students on campus to take action in support of our campaigns, mobilize hundreds of volunteers, and train dozens of student leaders on core advocacy skills from grassroots organizing, to working with the media, to lobbying their elected officials, and more!
This fall we held a regional organizing retreat in Portland, OR where we brought students from Oregon and Washington together for a weekend of skills training, briefings, discussions, and campaign actions to continue to build our student leaders from across the region.
All made possible by the WashPIRG fee!
All of this campaign work is made possible because of the students paying the WashPIRG fee. For over 50 years, students have voiced their support for funding our organization through a per-student per-term refundable fee. Students pool their resources together to hire staff, such as advocates, lobbyists, and organizers, to work with students on issues that they care about and represent students where decisions are made—in Olympia and Washington D.C.
Looking towards the spring, WashPIRG has plans to expand our impact, our training program, make more social change at the local, state, and federal level, and continue to represent students’ interests in places where decisions are being made.