(Washington,
D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Subcommittee,
announced that she has included funding to boost Eastern Washington education
priorities in the Fiscal Year 2011 LHHS Appropriations bill.
“In
the 21st century economy, it is critical that we continue investing in local
projects that train our workforce, teach our students, and boost our economy in
communities throughout Eastern Washington,” said Senator Murray. “These investments will
fund community priorities like a school-based mentor project and a water policy
center. I was proud to fight for these local investments, and I’m going to
continue working to help Washington state communities meet the needs of their
families.”
Having
passed the LHHS Subcommittee, the bill will now go to the full Senate
Appropriations Committee before going to the full Senate for consideration.
The
following projects were included in the bill for Eastern Washington:
Eastern
Washington University, Center for Water Policy – $300,000
This
funding will allow Eastern Washington University to educate, research, and
disseminate vital information on regional water issues.
“The
majority of water study centers, both in our region and elsewhere, focus on the
natural sciences for analysis and solutions to the problems they examine.
The EWU Center for Water Policy is different in that it looks at both societal
and natural factors as inextricably linked in most water issues, such as
allocation, contamination and conservation. It has often been the case in
the West that such issues were approached only from an ecological or a societal
perspective, as though each were a self-contained universe within which
solutions could be devised without reference to the other. Patently, this
is not true. Water rarely becomes polluted, diverted, or inaccessible
solely as a result of natural processes, nor does society control the natural
limitations of climatic fluctuation, geological process or ecosystem regimens
on the water supply,”
said Rodolfo Arévalo, Ph.D., President, Eastern Washington University.
Arévalo
added, “It is
the objective of the Center for Water Policy to provide fact-driven data to
assist policy and decision-making. The natural limitations and strengths
of the ecosystem and the societal parameters of competition, cooperation, and
compromise must all be analyzed objectively before specific water projects can
be satisfactorily accomplished. Over time, accumulated results should
also inform more basic policy to guide future decisions.”
Communities
in Schools in Spokane County, School-Based Mentor Project – $150,000
This
funding will allow Communities in Schools of Spokane County to expand a
successful mentorship program to three new middle schools.
“We
are very excited to expand the proven successes of the school-based mentor
program with the help of Senator Murray’s office. We look forward to partnering
100 adult mentors with at-risk you at the middle school level in our community
in the next year. This program will impact not only student’s personal lives
but their academic performance as well,” said Ben Stuckart, Executive Director.
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