The Office of the Mayor recently announced that this will be the fourth year of the ORCA Opportunity Program, a program that provides all eligible Seattle Public Students with access to free ORCA Cards. These ORCA cards give students access to free public transportation to and from school, as well as transportation anywhere else in King, Kitsap, Snohomish, or Pierce County. The card can be used throughout the school year and can be used for most transportation methods in Seattle.  

We see it worth noting that both RBAC and WA-BLOC had vital roles in the push for free transportation for students. Back in 2015, Ryan Croone– one of RBAC’s Circle Keeper Program Managers and a former Junior Servant Leader Educator at WA-BLOC– marched down 4th Avenue in WA-BLOC’s Day of Social Action, advocating for Orca Cards for other students. Croone reflected on that day, and what the community push amounted to, saying, “The youth voices are the ones that are counting towards what’s next. I was literally a teenager then, and I’m a man now. When youth speak, people should listen, because the young people are up next.”