SPOKANE, Wash. – The Spokane City Council voted 6-1 to give $100,000 to the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition under what the Council called a “Community Justice Fund for Immigrants.”
To receive the money, the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition (SIRC), a Spokane-based advocacy group that works with immigrants, will sign a personal services agreement with the Spokane City Council.
The agreement requires SIRC to maintain written policies and procedures to track how the money is used, including by reporting disbursement data to the City on a quarterly basis.
SIRC said that in previous years, its Legal Aid Fund distributed an average of $30,000 each year “directly to high-need immigrants and to a Rapid Response Team made up of community volunteers.”
SIRC said it would use the money to distribute funds for aid and emergency assistance to help people meet basic needs, advocating for local and statewide policies, developing a rapid response and accompaniment team in collaboration with the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, and focusing aid distribution to vulnerable immigrant families.
Proposal for the $100,000 agreement in the City Council agenda said the money was a one-time expense and that it was approved in the current year budget.
The proposal was one week earlier and was sponsored by City Council president Besty Wilkerson and City Councilmember Zack Zappone.
The proposal was the voted on early in a meeting that also touched on and a new schedule for city council meetings.
The proposal passed in a 6-1 vote, with City Councilmember Michael Cathcart as the only opposing vote.
