Western experiencing successes at the federal level

Western Washington University’s effort to be more active with its Federal relations agenda is reaping benefits, as the activities of Western’s administration and the leadership of the Associated Students have yielded positive results in Washington, D.C.

Western has been informed that all four Federal appropriation requests that it submitted earlier this year to its elected representatives in the U.S. Congress have been recommended for funding and have been forwarded to the respective Appropriation Committees of the House and Senate. In addition, Western students will benefit from the passage of legislation last month that will enhance Federal Financial Aid.

Appropriation requests are usually unique programs or projects designed to utilize federal funding sources. The four appropriation requests are as follows:

WWU Border Policy Research Institute project: Augmenting Trade Without Compromising Security ($850,000). This project revolves around the BPRI’s examination of issues and factors affecting cross-border commerce and tourism. The project will directly help American competitiveness and thus spur economic growth both in Washington state and elsewhere in the U.S.

The funding will be used to complete eight distinct research projects related to trade-corridor performance and to the economic impacts of border processes. Every project will address the topic of economic impacts and consequences related to: border processes, border facilities, cross-border trade facilitation, barriers to trade (e.g., tariffs, regulations, and policies), and similar topics.

This project was forwarded to committee by Sen. Patty Murray.

National Center for Economic Vitality ($2.2 million). Economic Gardening is an economic development strategy that uses sophisticated business research tools and technical assistance to support entrepreneurial activities resulting in the retention and expansion of businesses and creation of jobs. The National Center for Economic Vitality would provide a centralized source of resources, tools, training, and certification of economic gardening efforts that will result in creating and saving jobs.

A national, coordinated effort teaching economic gardening principles and practices to economic development practitioners does not exist. New economic gardening programs and strategies are popping up across the country with no centralized support system.

Communities throughout our nation are expending significant resources in the form of tax breaks and incentives to lure businesses from other communities to their own. The National Center for Economic Gardening will provide a center focused on growing local and regional economies from within by preparing economic development practitioners to help businesses start, stabilize and grow.

This project was forwarded to committee by Sen. Patty Murray.

North Puget Sound Clean Ocean Training, Research and Innovation Initiative ($4.25 million for Phase I). This collaborative venture between Bellingham Technical College, Northwest Indian College and WWU is envisioned in two phases; this federal appropriation request is for Phase I.

The first phase of the North Puget Sound Clean Ocean Training, Research and Innovation Initiative has two core components:

• Construction of the Northwest Center for Advanced Environmental Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences, a 15,000-square-foot, LEED Gold facility occupied by each of the three institutions, to be built on the site of the current hatchery location in Bellingham’s Old Town, on the Whatcom Creek Waterway.
• The development of a new two-year degree in Aquatic Conservation and Resource Management that would lead into a four-year degree from WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment.

The second phase would incorporate further upgrades into the infrastructure of the Center, provide funds to better prepare the Center’s students for work in the field, and help address the serious workforce shortages documented in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric National Marine Fisheries Service September 2008 report to Congress.

This project was forwarded to committee by Sen. Maria Cantwell.

Washington Campus Compact: Veterans and Students Service Initiative ($300,000). This initiative will allow veterans and college students to develop workforce skills, engage veterans in service activities, and create capacity for nonprofits to meet community needs.

The program will run from Sept. 1, 2010, to Aug. 31, 2011, depending on availability of funding.

The initiative will be managed by Washington Campus Compact staff at WWU with two additional part-time AmeriCorps members providing assistance at service learning centers at Bellingham Technical College, Everett Community College, Northwest Indian College, Skagit Valley Community College, Whatcom Community College, and WWU.

This project was forwarded to committee by Rep. Rick Larsen.

In addition to these items heading into committee for appropriation, the leadership of the WWU Associated Students and Western’s administration lobbied intensely and successfully for a number of key points to the national Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. That bill increases funding to the Federal Pell Grant system and increases funding to (and provides for the startup of) the Federal Direct Loan Program.