We can’t go back: Fund the community reinvestment program

By Virla Spencer

Every single day, I witness the life-altering impact of the Community Reinvestment Project. I watch elders – who’ve spent years struggling to find stable housing and employment – finally get back on their feet after having their criminal records expunged. I see young mothers reunited with their children after serving time in prison. I see youth playing sports without financial obstacles holding them back. I see entire communities beginning to build generational wealth.

I see Black and Brown people across Washington state seizing a powerful opportunity to recover from the racist legacy of the “War on Drugs” – a war that, in reality, was a war against our communities.

Over the past two years, the CRP has brought about transformative change in Black, Latine and tribal communities across Washington. This $200 million fund has been the foundation for programs that directly serve communities of color, communities that have borne the brunt of the racist policies and law enforcement tactics of the drug war for more than four decades.

Through the CRP, the Department of Commerce has created an engine driving racial justice across Washington state – an engine built by and for our communities. Grassroots, community-led organizations are the gears that make this engine run, and they are the navigators guiding us toward justice.

But now, that engine is in jeopardy. The state Legislature must keep it running. Anything less than fully renewing the CRP’s funding will send us backward on our path to racial justice. Washington must lead the way in advancing racial justice, not follow national trends that see our rights erode and our communities under attack.

For the past two years, the Way to Justice, the organization I co-founded and lead as CEO in Spokane, has been all-in on the CRP program. Thanks to this funding, we’ve expanded our reach with an office in Tacoma, serving Black and Brown people in every county across Washington. We’ve provided legal support to over 2,500 people, helping them expunge criminal records, reinstate their driver’s licenses, and begin rebuilding lives disrupted by racist drug laws and discriminatory policing. This is more than legal assistance – it’s a vital step toward restoring a sense of justice and opportunity to those who have been historically denied both.

But our work is just one part of the CRP’s engine. Other programs have provided critical support for homebuyer loans, financial literacy education, youth sports initiatives, violence reduction efforts, and much more. Together, these efforts represent an unprecedented investment in racial justice in Washington State.

What makes the CRP so powerful is its deep commitment to working within and alongside Black, Latine and tribal communities that have been most impacted by racist drug laws and law enforcement practices. For far too long, our communities have been targeted, traumatized, and left behind. The CRP has given us a chance to heal, to rebuild and to create something beautiful together.

The loss of this funding would not only undo this progress – it would directly harm the organizations that have come to rely on the CRP. Without sustained funding, many of these organizations won’t be able to continue providing critical services. We risk retraumatizing our communities and reinforcing the very cycles of poverty and incarceration that have plagued us for generations.

This is especially urgent as the Legislature debates increasing funding for law enforcement – a system that continues to disproportionately harm Black, Latine and tribal communities.

Washington legislators, if you are truly committed to making Black and Brown communities whole again; if you are truly dedicated to repairing the damage done by the war on drugs; if you truly believe in equal justice and opportunity for all people, then you have a moral obligation to fully fund the Community Reinvestment Project at its current level.

Anything less would reverse the critical progress we’ve made toward racial justice over the past two years. Don’t abandon the hard work our communities have invested. Don’t walk away from this bold vision for racial justice. Don’t send Washington in the wrong direction.

Washington senators and representatives, fully fund the Community Reinvestment Project.

Virla Spencer is the co-founder and CEO of the Way to Justice, a community-centered nonprofit dedicated to eliminating racism and removing barriers to justice within the legal system. She leads efforts to provide critical services to low-income and BIPOC communities, including post-conviction relief, re-entry support, driver’s relicensing, youth empowerment and community outreach.