Fair Budget Coalition
  • About
    • Coalition Members
    • Steering Committee
    • Executive Committee
  • Staff
  • Membership
    • Member Testimony
    • Issue Groups
    • In the News
  • Organizing
    • Our Campaigns
  • Budget Reports
  • Donate
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We soley work remote and can be reached via phone at 301.883.1360 or email at stephanie@fairbudget.org

Who We Are

The Fair Budget Coalition advocates for budget and public policy initiatives that address poverty and human needs in the District of Columbia.
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​The Fair Budget Coalition accomplishes these goals by leveraging the collective power of its member organizations, including working with social service providers to empower those directly affected by poverty to participate in the advocacy process.

How We Work

FBC’s programmatic work will fall into four areas: advocacy; capacity building; constituent engagement; and information sharing.

Advocacy: Advocacy is at the core of FBC’s work and we bring together professional advocates, service providers, and those who will most feel the brunt of cuts to social services to collectively develop our budget and policy goals. From October through June, the bulk of this advocacy centers on ensuring that the District’s budget for the upcoming year meets the critical human needs of its most vulnerable residents.

Capacity Building: During the budget season and throughout the remainder of the year, FBC works to expand the capacity of its member organizations to engage in advocacy. This includes providing trainings for service providers in how to engage their client base in advocacy, as well as how to be effective advocates themselves. We provide these participatory trainings both to the staff of organizations and their client communities.
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Constituent Engagement: Since our founding, we’ve aided service providers in moving toward advocacy driven by those most affected. In 2016, we will be launching our new Constituent Engagement Program, through which we will work with a cohort of organizational members to develop tailored plans for increasing their constituent engagement.
 
Information Sharing: FBC supports information sharing in multiple ways. We host monthly meetings in which our members strategize about the budget, share updates about changes in various policies or agency staff, and learn about opportunities to promote our shared agenda. We also serve as a clearinghouse, sharing information about various events, workshops, and training opportunities.

History

Since its founding in 1994, the Fair Budget Coalition (FBC) has brought together human service and legal services providers, community members directly impacted by poverty, advocates, faith organizations and concerned District residents to advocate for a District budget and public policies that address human needs. We were born out of the value that human needs must be addressed in a strategic and comprehensive way. Standing together representing a variety of interests and perspectives, the Coalition brings this message and the voices of our neighbors in need into the local decision-making processes.

Since 2003, FBC has won over $650 million dollars in funding for programs and services in the District, through restorations, increases in funding, and future commitments. In addition, we have helped hundreds of District residents share their stories with elected officials through public testimony, meetings, and public actions.
FBC has grown to represent over 60 organizations plus dozens of concerned citizens and people impacted by poverty who come together to engage in advocacy and organizing around social and economic justice in the District of Columbia.


Vision

The Fair Budget Coalition believes in a just and inclusive District of Columbia, a place that supports strong and stable communities, that allows low-income Black and non-Black communities of color to live in dignity, and that makes it possible for all residents to achieve economic security. We believe that such a community:
  • ensures a secure, safe and affordable home to all;
  • guarantees income security for all;
  • offers all employment with living wages, hours and benefits;
  • offers all the education and training necessary for an improved quality of life;
  • achieves environmental justice, which both fights extreme climate change and protects neighborhoods from harmful toxins;
  • ensures that all have access to excellent medical care, including high quality substance abuse and mental health services, provided with respect and honor for all individuals;​
  • maintains an effective “social safety net” that can minimize the impact of crises on the lives of marginalized community members;
  • enforces restorative public policy that seeks to remedy past institutional oppression;
  • supports and affirms domestic violence survivors’ right to safety from violence and further victimization from institutions;
  • embraces immigrant communities and guarantees access to city resources;
  • honors the culture and history of DC’s longtime Black and other communities of color and infuses existing communities with needed resources;
  • and must exercise self-determination through local budget, policies, and law.

Mission

A fair budget is one that is restorative and prioritizes racial justice. The Fair Budget Coalition advocates for budget and public policy initiatives that seeks to address systemic social, racial and economic inequality in the District of Columbia. We work to accomplish these goals by leveraging the collective power of our member organizations and impacted community members, particularly those from Black and other communities of color.

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  • About
    • Coalition Members
    • Steering Committee
    • Executive Committee
  • Staff
  • Membership
    • Member Testimony
    • Issue Groups
    • In the News
  • Organizing
    • Our Campaigns
  • Budget Reports
  • Donate