Vision 2020

"What would it take to actually meet basic human needs, including eliminating institutional racism, in King County by the Year 2020?" 

This was the rallying cry of a group of human service providers in Seattle and King County in the fall of 1998. 

To answer this question, the Seattle Human Services Coalition and the Minority Executive Directors' Coalition of King County formed a partnership in mid-1999, to create a proactive agenda to take us to our desired future. We were frustrated with addressing symptoms, while the sources of problems which denied equal access to resources for low-income people continued to grow. The campaign's goal was to create a community by the year 2020 where basic human needs are met through a sustainable network of human services, free of institutional racism, accessible to all who need them, and a reduction of the need for most emergency services. 

To achieve these goals, we knew we had to address system problems, create a strong advocacy agenda and mobilize community members. After meeting monthly and sometimes more over a one year period, 67 persons involved in human services from every angle (coalition and advocacy groups, youth, faith community, community and civic groups, human service providers, government, funders, clients and customers) joined together from all parts of the community over a three-day period to participate in a future search, "2020 Vision: Many Voices, Real Solutions: What would it take to meet Basic Human Needs by the Year 2020 and create a community free from Institutional Racism?" Our goal was simple, to create an action plan; our agenda came out of a common ground: the vision, ideals, values and goals that we created together.

By the end of the initial three-year campaign, over a thousand people ranging from human service providers and program participants to public and private funders, church and neighborhood groups, youth and elders, had participated in some portion of the process to establish an Action Agenda to get us there from where we started. 

For more information on how to make use of the Action Agenda and the foundation of the 2020 Vision Campaign to help create the kind of community described in our shared vision, or to connect with the people working on any of the actions described, contact Julia Sterkovsky.

The Vision

We choose to build, nurture and sustain a community where all people have access to the basic necessities and resources for human survival and advancement. The 2020 Vision Campaign is designed to promote the creation of a society in which everyone has equal access to adequate resources by the year 2020. 

We intend to foster the creation of a network of sustainable human services, accessible to all, that works to eliminate the reliance on emergency, crisis services. An essential part of this effort will be to dismantle and eliminate institutional racism, which is defined by 2020 Vision as the systemic inclusion of racist practices and policies, which withhold power from and/or bar access to resources or advancement due to race. 

We believe that is an essential human right for every person to have access to the basic necessities and resources for human survival and advancement. We define these necessities and resources as: safe and affordable housing; adequate nutritious food; access to quality health care; a livable wage job to support self and family; affordable and available community activities; universal, quality education; and safe, affordable childcare that is culturally competent, conveniently located and meets the needs of working parents. 

We believe that access to the means to meet these basic human needs should not be restricted or denied due to race, color, national origin, age, income, veteran status, educational level, gender, physical or mental disability, religious beliefs or practice, sexual orientation, or by language, cultural practices or institutional racism. 

We believe that our community has adequate resources to sustain the basic human needs of each of its residents. But barriers have been established, institutionalized, and propagated to keep this from occurring. We see the need for change.

Tenets for Change

We believe adoption of the following principles is critical to forward movement.