Advocacy

WACCRA has been the voice of CCRC residents in Washington State since being established as a 501(c)(4) in 2016.  Since then, WACCRA has taken on several initiatives to help provide residents with enhanced consumer protections and more comprehensive financial transparency requirements.  Our goal has been to ensure that CCRCs continue to deliver on the promises made when residents joined their CCRC. For more detail, click Short History.

Presidents Roundtable: WACCRA leadership facilitates periodic conversations among the Presidents of the Resident Councils at participating CCRCs. This exchange of ideas about best practices benefits all CCRC residents.

Senior Lobby: WACCRA participates in this diverse coalition focused on legislation impacting Washington seniors that meets monthly.  The variety of non-profits and state agencies represented in the Lobby creates a clearinghouse for the groups to share updates on initiatives and legislation focused on seniors and their needs. For more information about Senior Lobby, click here.
 

Multi-State Meeting: WACCRA developed and hosts a regular meeting of similar CCRC resident associations from other states to share updates on CCRC happenings across the country. These include legislative activity, CCRC failures and other key developments. These meetings have been very helpful in guiding our Washington State activities.

Membership Development: A key goal for WACCRA is growing and educating our member base of supporters. Some elements of our membership development are:

1. Keeping our members up-to-date on WACCRA activities and other important issues impacting CCRC residents through our on-line News-Mail. Click here to view our archive of News-Mails.
2. Growing membership within each CCRC that currently has members. This important work is spearheaded by the CCRC Liaisons who introduce new residents to WACCRA and run our annual membership drive each February. Membership growth has been enhanced through attendance at WACCRA’s Annual Meeting, held each fall.
3. Reaching out to CCRCs without active WACCRA members by going on the road to meet potential new members. 
4. Sponsoring educational presentations at CCRCs covering general senior issues as well as specific current issues in Washington State that affect seniors.


Legislative Committee: WACCRA has a long-standing committee of the Board of Directors focused on our legislative efforts in Olympia.  The committee includes board members and resident volunteers and is supported and advised by our legislative lobbyist.  In the last five years the committee has worked to educate the Washington State Office of the Insurance commissioner, the Department of Social and Health Services, the Attorney General’s Office and the legislature on the consumer protection and financial transparency issues faced by CCRC residents. They have authored many presentations for government officials and CCRC residents outlining WACCRA’s legislative agenda. Click here for details.