Fortify! Washington

Resolutions are documents passed by elected bodies to make a statement or commit to an action. They are not law, but they serve a very important purpose by getting a council to publicly commit to a position on an issue (setting norms) and/or take concrete action on that issue. And they can result in actual codified policy, as our victory in Shoreline with Res560 (city webpage) did, resulting in a city ordinance (1059) prohibiting Federal immigration enforcement on City property.

They can also set the stage for future actions by a city on that issue. If a council passes a resolution in favor of a particular stance on an issue, it opens the door for the community to return later and ask that council act on their commitment by, for example, publicly endorsing pending legislation at the State or Federal level.

This is essentially the relationship between Shoreline’s immigrant-welcoming Res401 of 2017 and Shoreline’s immigrant-protection Res560 of 2026, based on this Fortify! model resolution, that, among other things, asked them to endorse state-level legislation. Two of those state bills became law.

Here are some other examples of resolutions passed by city governments (unrelated to Fortify! WA): Shoreline Res467 (anti-racism), Res542 (queer-welcoming); Bothell Resolution 1611 (queer-welcoming, through Pride Across the Bridge’s Resolutions for a Sanctuary Eastside effort)and Kenmore Res 25-437 / Bothell Reso 1685 (achieved by a coordinated local immigrant support campaign).

A model resolution is a template resolution on a topic/issue that exists to make it easier to pass that resolution in multiple cities or organizations. Examples include Move to Amend, Medicare for All, and FairVote.

Neither of these kinds of efforts are new, but the Fortify! innovation is to bring them all together in one place, filling in the gaps as necessary, and focus on the organizing by building a platform of model resolutions that engenders a habit of ongoing organizing by allowing groups to work on passing whatever they want, whatever their city needs, or whatever the moment in history demands.

Fortify! works to be prepared with model resolutions for moments we know will arise as well as long-standing issues, nearly all of which have established expert organizations which should be relied upon for their issue expertise and supported in their work. Without reinventing the wheel.

Fortify! model resolutions are either drawn from existing model resolutions provided by issue expert organizations (like those above) or drafted by Fortify! using publicly available information, including from issue-expert organizations. We try to generate as little new content as possible – again, in order to not reinvent the wheel (we’ll say that a lot), and in order to honor and amplify the work of organizations that know these issues far better than we do.

Of note: We do not use Artificial Intelligence to generate model resolutions, for every reason that AI is problematic, from environmental impacts to the theft of others’ original content. For all information and quotes we use from other sources or entities, we always provide citations and acknowledgement.

While this process works in any city anywhere, it was first developed in a small, rural town, and is easiest in mid- to small-sized cities, where local elected officials are more readily accessible. And, of course, model resolutions that cite Washington state legislation won’t work elsewhere, but could be a starting point and edited for work in other states.

Anyone from any city can sign these grassroots petitions!

In short, because they are the pipeline to higher office, essentially ultimately providing paid training to those who serve, preparing them to move up the ladder, as many do.

By ignoring City Councils and other local elected bodies, we risk allowing people who do not share our values to enter the political pipeline. For the 2026 primary, four local members of city councils (between Edmonds, WA and Shoreline WA) were seeking higher office. We ignore our local bodies at our peril.

The Fortify! method intends to accomplish two critical things: One, help us learn about the elected officials who are already on our local councils by asking them to stand with us on issues important to us and, two, holistically cultivate future candidates through the increased engagement required to do so.

Ultimately, the goal is to be engaged with all local elected bodies, but city councils are the most local generalist body, so provide the greatest opportunity for action. For issues that directly affect youth or students, school boards are also an important target.

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