America’s electoral process—one of the most enduring pillars of our democracy—has once again been upheld. There will likely be no outcry about stolen or miscounted ballots and no charges of voter fraud.

No matter where you stand regarding Tuesday’s General Election results, it is safe to say that the greatest victors were our constitutional amendments and acts that give all American citizens the right to choose the candidates and initiatives of their choice.

But now we’ve awakened to the reality that the results of Tuesday’s election might do nothing to heal the wounds of a deeply divided nation. It might mean that those of us who work to ensure that this nation shares its vast wealth and resources so that everyone is housed and no one goes hungry might face more challenges to meet those goals.

It might mean more of the one-step-forward, two-step-back patterns that have hampered our progress in supporting those who need it most. It might mean that the anti-immigrant, misogynistic, racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic rhetoric we’ve heard incessantly in recent years might help shape public policy.

At United Way of King County, work is about challenging and changing the status quo, including the widening income equality gap to where cash-strapped folks must decide between paying the rent, keeping the lights on, or putting food in the fridge. We continue to provide services to and advocate for communities across King County, particularly those who have been the victims of structural racism and inequality.

• Our Free Tax Preparation program impacted 9,800 Seattle residents during the first seven months of 2024. We leveraged $6.4 million in tax refunds, including $1.1 million in Earned Income Tax Credits, $1.4 million in Child Tax Credits, and $450,000 in Working Families State Tax Credits.
• Our Home Grocery Delivery Program works to prevent hunger by taking food from food banks and delivering it to the people. Since the program’s inception, delivery drivers have made more than 750,000 deliveries to King County residences—currently, more than 4,000 households weekly, including 79% of which identify as Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
• Our Home Base program focuses on helping people avoid evictions. Thanks to our infrastructure in place pre-pandemic and critical federal dollars, we provided stability services that housed 32,175 households (72,116 individuals).
• During the 2024 State Legislative Session, we successfully advocated for $1.8 million for post-secondary basic needs, with $767,000 to fund at least one .75 full-time equivalent position for a Benefits Navigator at every public college. We also advocated for priorities that were included in the legislature’s final budgets, including support for child care and other early learning programs and an additional $115 million to increase provider rates and reimbursements.

We also aim to understand the diverse perspectives and concerns within our country better, including those rooted in fear, division, and distrust of diversity, and to thoughtfully address the barriers that hinder equitable and inclusive communities.

Despite potential challenges from national policy shifts, we remain dedicated to advancing our vision of fair and thriving communities for all. We will stay true to our values, prioritizing progress locally, regionally, and across our state while continuing to lead with racial equity at the core of our work.

We will continue to resist regressive values, policies, and behaviors. We will continue to prioritize embodying progressive values and actions—locally, regionally, and statewide. And we will continue to lead with racial equity as our guiding principle.

We will advocate for racial and social justice in blog posts like this one and in local media Op-Eds and editorials. We will make our voices heard, which we also believe is a pillar of democracy.

In the words of educator Yasmin Mogahed: “Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But you keep going.”

We are among those in our society going through a myriad of emotions from this electoral process. We wonder what lies ahead for our region, state, and country. But we will keep going, holding fast to the values that make us an organization committed to working with communities to build an equitable future for everyone.