At the beginning of this new year, we at EFAA want to express our hopes for our community to develop in a more resilient, equitable, and just direction.

Beyond the services that EFAA provides, our strategic education work seeks to elevate the voices and interests of EFAA participants to public policy and legislative matters affecting our community.

Last month, EFAA carried out its first Public Policy Priorities survey of EFAA participants. The results were clear: affordable housing is THE top priority for respondents. Other priorities include access to nutritious and affordable food, mental health services, and support for families experiencing homelessness.

Based on this input, we are pleased to share EFAA’s policy wish list for 2022, prioritizing four areas:

We hope for progress on a community where people of a variety of income levels can obtain affordable housing. There are many well-run programs to address housing needs and build affordable housing, yet their scale is insufficient to truly address the housing affordability emergency our community is experiencing.

We believe in a more equitable economy. Building economic resilience through increasing Boulder’s minimum wage would not only contribute to making basic needs more affordable for low-income households, but it will also help correct the unequal – or “k-shaped” – pandemic recovery that has magnified pre-existing income inequalities.

The children in our community need their parents to be able to access affordable childcare. Amplified by the last two years of COVID, Boulder’s childcare services are insufficient and unaffordable. Childcare is one of the main barriers for low-income families to be able to fully participate in the workforce.

Everyone in our community should have nutritious and affordable food. The prevalence of food insecurity and the difficulty in accessing nutritious and affordable food has been exacerbated by the last two years of COVID and compounded by inflation.

We hope you will join us in raising these issues to positively transform the local, state, and federal policies that shape our participants’ daily lives. Want to get involved? Please contact Ana Fernandez Frank, EFAA’s Public Public Policy & Community Outreach Coordinator, at ana@efaa.org.