Advocacy 101: Roots Before Results

Springtime is here, and with it, spring gardening season. If you think about it, gardening provides a perfect analogy for advocacy. If you have ever tended to a garden, you know that what you do in one season shapes what grows in the next. Advocacy works much the same way. Meaningful changes for older adults and people with disabilities rarely happen in a single legislative (or even congressional) session. Instead, progress is built gradually, through persistence, relationships, and a willingness to keep showing up even when results are not immediate or even seen. The 2026 Washington state legislative session was a clear reminder that advocacy is cumulative and that every session builds on the last, just like a garden.

The 2026 session was a short, 60‑day session focused largely on budget adjustments and fine‑tuning existing policies. While short sessions can feel rushed, they play an important role in preparing the ground for the following year. Next year’s session will be a long, 120-day budget‑writing session, when lawmakers develop the state’s two‑year operating, capital, and transportation budgets and consider broader policy changes. The conversations, testimony, and relationships developed in 2026 are already shaping what will be possible in 2027.

One of the clearest examples of advocacy building over time is Washington’s WA Cares program, the nation’s first public long‑term care insurance program. First enacted in 2019, WA Cares has been refined repeatedly over multiple legislative sessions in response to feedback from workers, retirees, advocates, and family caregivers. During the 2026 session, lawmakers continued adjusting as the program prepares to begin paying benefits in July 2026. These refinements reflect years of advocacy and a shared commitment to improving the program so it works better for the people who will rely on it.

The lesson from WA Cares is an important one: Advocacy does not end when a bill becomes law. In many cases, that is when the most important work begins. As the program moves from policy to practice, the voices of older adults, people with disabilities, and caregivers will be essential in shaping future improvements. The long session next year will provide new opportunities to address issues that emerge during implementation and to strengthen the program even further.

Budget discussions during the 2026 session also highlighted the ongoing need to advocate for aging and disability services. Lawmakers faced significant fiscal pressures, and advocates worked hard to emphasize the importance of protecting programs that older adults and people with disabilities depend on, including home‑ and community‑based services, senior nutrition programs, and case management through Area Agencies on Aging. Even when funding gains are modest, continued advocacy helps ensure these services remain visible and valued as lawmakers look ahead to the next biennium. Not every proposal advanced this year, but each conversation helped strengthen the foundation for future action as it is important to remember that success is not measured only by the number of bills passed each year. Success is also reflected in lawmakers who recognize an issue because they have heard about it before, in proposals that gain support over time, and in programs that improve because advocates stayed engaged. Every letter written, every testimony offered, and every story shared in 2026 helped deepen understanding and build momentum.

As we look ahead to the long 2027 session, there is real reason for hope. Long sessions allow more time for thoughtful policymaking and include the writing of full two‑year budgets, creating opportunities for meaningful investments in aging and disability services. The groundwork laid this year gives advocates credibility and a head start. We will not be starting from scratch; we will be building on strong roots.

Our community understands better than most that lasting change takes time. Gardens do not flourish the day seeds are planted, and good public policy is no different. The 2026 session was a season of planting and tending. With continued persistence and participation, those efforts can bear fruit in the year ahead—for today’s older adults, people with disabilities, and for generations to come.

Joel Domingo is chair of the Advisory Council’s Advocacy Committee and Dean of the Research Institute and Director of Research and Professor at City University of Seattle, where he leads the university’s overall scholarship and research objectives. His work focuses on leadership development and civic capacity building for creating social transformation in the public and community nonprofit spheres.