News & Stories

“You make $15 ten years ago, you were making really really good money. You make $15 an hour now, and you’re scraping.” Ask Sue about her job history and she’ll tell you she has worked almost every job in the food industry. She’s been a bartender and a server; she’s cooked food, washed dishes, and delivered […]

Reading what voters really want from election results is a tricky business. But now that the 2014 election contests are pretty much decided, here are some lessons for Washington’s legislators to consider for their 2015 session: First: Paid sick days and a minimum wage increase are winning issues. With job growth anemic, wages stagnant, and […]

The weather in Seattle has turned to our beloved (and endless) drizzle and clouds, but EOI wants to help you warm up and get out of the rain! Bring your festive attitude to EOI’s Winter Housewarming on December 11, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. We’d love to hear about what cheers and fires you […]

In about a week, when all the ballots are counted, we will know for sure who will be our elected public servants for the next few years. But ask your friends and neighbors the simple question: Who are the state senator and representatives for the area where you live? For the most part, you probably […]

“I grew up with farmers and mechanics, and those types of jobs were the middle class. And it just doesn’t seem that way anymore.”  Sandra grew up in a time when many hard working families were able to join the middle class, thanks to workplace benefits like health care and access to financial aid for college students. But […]

After an exciting night of fantastic pitches and great networking at Seattle’s McCaw Hall, EOI was honored to bring home two awards for EOI Policy Associate Kelli Smith’s pitch about Pay It Forward at the fourth annual SVP Fast Pitch competition on Tuesday, October 28. Pay It Forward is a tuition-free higher education policy that […]

This November, Seattle voters will have the opportunity to choose between two competing ballot measures seeking to improve the quality of early learning in the city. Proposition 1A (Yes for Early Success) and Proposition 1B (the Seattle Preschool Initiative) both aim to increase access to high-quality childcare and improve teacher compensation, but they go about […]

It’s election time and we all have received our ballots. Now we get to ponder our choices, look over the voter’s pamphlet, read or just recycle the literature/propaganda/ disinformation that comes in the mail, and fill in the ovals for the candidates and issues which we support. One of the best things about elections in […]

When Seattle’s City Council adopted the Paid Sick and Safe Leave ordinance in 2011, it was embarking on new territory. For the first time, the City established a labor standard covering most employers operating within city limits. That precedent and the relatively successful experience of sick leave set the stage for Seattle adopting its own minimum […]

“I’ve been promised a dream that doesn’t exist anymore.  The rich are getting richer; the middle class are getting poorer… I think that’s really sad for our country. I’m waiting for us to step up and do something right and start taking care of each other.” To call Angela strong would be an understatement. Even […]

Janna Higgins, a Master of Social Work student at the University of Washington, is joining EOI for the school year as a Graduate Policy Intern. Below, she shares more about her background and why she is excited to work with EOI. Janna received her bachelor’s degree in Child and Family Studies from Portland State University […]

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella created a national uproar when he advised women to rely on “good karma” for a raise. He almost immediately retracted. But if Nadella had instead advised women to ask for raises and urged girls to pursue computer science degrees, that still would have been the wrong answer to the gender wage […]

Poverty is growing, median income has barely budged, and more households have 6-figure incomes. High poverty rates have hardly budged since the height of the Great Recession, according to newly released Census data. Nationally, 14.5% of the population — more than 45 million Americans — earned incomes below the federal poverty level in 2013, half a percentage point […]

After a productive and memorable summer, EOI says goodbye to one of our Graduate Policy Interns, Sarah Van Houten. Below, she shares why she applied to work at EOI and what she’s taking away from the experience. Sarah will receive her master’s degree in public administration with a specialization in nonprofit management from Seattle University next summer. […]

Are you interested in an evening of intellectual stimulation, creativity, and inspiration? Come cheer on EOI’s Kelli Smith as she competes in the SVP Fast Pitch Finals Tuesday, October 28th at McCaw Hall! Kelli is one of 14 finalists who will present their pitch in front of a panel of eminent judges and impact investors for the […]

By Jessica Pollard The Pay It Forward program was conceived as an alternative method to paying for college tuition. On Sept. 11, The Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission unanimously voted to recommend a Pay It Forward pilot program to the 2015 Oregon Legislature. The program proposes an alternative to the rising cost of in-state tuition […]

“I just knew I didn’t want to live paycheck-to-paycheck like my parents have. I wanted better for myself…I threw myself into school because I saw what I could be like if I didn’t.” Katie grew up with a comfortable middle class lifestyle in New York; her parents had steady jobs for most of her childhood and […]

One of the things I do in the fall is volunteer as a coach for cross country runners at Ballard High School. I usually end up coaching the kids at the end of the pack. That’s how it should be. Because with cross country, it’s not just about the fastest runners, it is also about […]

EOI is proud to announce our own Kelli Smith has been selected to move on as an SVP Fast Pitch 2014 Semifinalist in the established non-profit category. Kelli impressed the panel of judges with her pitch for EOI’s Pay It Forward proposal for tuition-free access to higher education. And what, you might ask is SVP Fast Pitch? It’s: […]

Come January, Washington’s minimum wage will go up 15 cents an hour to $9.47. That’s supposed to be enough to make up for inflation – all of $6.00 a week if you’re lucky enough to get a full-time schedule at that low wage job. Meanwhile, income inequality continues to grow. So much income is now […]

By Secretary of Labor Tom Perez I spent last week in Melbourne, Australia representing our government at a meeting of Labor Ministers of the world’s 20 major economies. After sitting down with my G20 counterparts and learning more about their policies relating to work and workplaces, my main takeaway is that the United States is distressingly behind […]

“I don’t expect to retire—that’s the thing—I expect to keep on working.  I don’t have much saved….I’m worried about it.” Chris, a baby boomer in his 60s, has his roots in Pullman, WA. After leaving Kansas during the dust bowl in the 1940s, his parents were able to build a comfortable middle class life for […]

“Working at EOI gives you access to cutting edge policy and communications experts.” Sam Hatzenbeler, a Graduate Policy Intern here at EOI, is wrapping up her summer internship with us. Below, she shares why she applied to work at EOI and what she’s away taking from the experience. Sam will receive her master’s degree in […]

This week the Census Bureau confirmed what many working women already experience: the gender wage gap isn’t closing – it’s stuck. Stagnant. While the gap between men’s and women’s earnings did narrow slightly in 2013, with women earning 78 cents for every dollar compared to 76.5 cents a year earlier, it has remained virtually unchanged since […]

Executive Summary Every year, the Social Security Trustees are required by law to project the program’s finances 75 years into the future. Recently, the Trustees released their 2014 report – and their intermediate projection confirms Social Security can easily continue to provide benefits as scheduled for nearly two decades. Social Security has been going strong […]