Actions for you and your congregation:
Check the FAN website (fanwa.org) for options for action in the state legislature and in Congress.
**************************************************************************
MAY 2025
MAIN PRESENTATION: Developing Affordable Housing on the Eastside
A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH). ARCH is a partnership of the County and East King County Cities working to preserve and increase housing for low and moderate-income households in the region. The coalition has helped to create over 9,000 affordable homes in communities of opportunity. ARCH supports its members to develop housing policies, strategies and regulations; efficiently administer housing programs; coordinate city investments in affordable housing; and assist people looking for affordable rental and ownership housing. Presentation by Sophie Glass, Government Affairs, Policy, and Communications Manager. Joined by Lindsay Masters, Executive Director.
SPOTLIGHT: Anything Helps. Anything Helps is on a mission to create and clear paths to stability for people experiencing chronic homelessness. They do this through community action, person-centered innovation, and continuous improvement. Through community engagement, they help foster the conditions for informed advocacy, a reduction in hostility between the housed and unhoused, and make progress towards ending homelessness. Presenters: Mike Mathias, Executive Director; Mark Garrett, Board Chairman.
**************************************************************************
April 2025
MAIN PRESENTATION: Impact of Budget Cuts on Hunger, Homelessness, and Housing
- Claire Lane, Director, Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition
- Hali Willis, Community Policy Manager, Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness
- Po Leapai, Advocacy Organizer, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance
SPOTLIGHT: Khizer Sheriff, Essentials First. When Immigration Knocks – Advice for Service Providers
____________________________________
March 2025
MAIN PRESENTATION: Do our shelters meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness in our communities?
- Kiki Serantes and Tony Machada, King County Regional Homelessness Authority;
- Troy Christensen, Director of Development and Communications, Porchlight.
- Marc Vermouth, Development Director, The Sophia Way.
SPOTLIGHT: Jewish Community Services. Ellen Weiss Phelps, Temple B’nai Torah
**************************************************************************
MISSION STATEMENT
Members of Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council (“EISCC”) believe we are guided by the moving of God’s spirit in our community to work together in a spirit of caring and celebration. We honor and respect each other’s religious heritages, welcome and pray for each other, and share information about pressing community needs.
EISCC members represent dozens of Eastside congregations and meet monthly on the second Tuesdays at noon at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 4228 Factoria Blvd SE, Bellevue WA 98006. map and directions, with lunch provided. Currently meeting in person and via Zoom.
We provide a forum to educate, advocate, initiate, coordinate, and support through task forces and other means, to work for the common good, and to address human needs and improve the quality of life of the citizens living in the eastside communities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Issaquah, Renton, and Redmond.
Linda Hillesheim, EISCC board member, represents the eastside faith community on the board of Eastside Human Services Forum.
EISCC sponsors one sub-agency – Congregations for Kids, which provides school supplies for children in Bellevue schools. Three prior EISCC sub-agencies now operate independently: Congregations for the Homeless, and The Sophia way support homeless men, women and children on the eastside and also operate the Eastside Winter Shelters for men, and for women and children. Recently independent sub-agency Backpack Meals For Kids now aligned with Backpack Brigade. provides supplemental nutrition for Bellevue school children.
EISCC sponsors the Eastside Emergency Services Fund administered through Hopelink.
Here is a link to the King County affordable Housing Develoment Consortium.
Washington Afghan Refugee Relief Information
EISCC is an IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity, EIN 94-3036001.
link to –>> October 12, 2019 workshop on affordable housing