Family Values Work A Multi-State Consortium

Family Values @ Work is A movement network of more than 2,000+ grassroots activists, business owners and non-profit organizations in over two dozen states working toward economic, racial and gender justice. We have united activists and workers, lifting up their voices in key states and localities focused on winning policies that support workers and families. We confront this nation's long history of coerced and underpaid caregiving labor and counter it with demands for an economy based on care and equity. We fight for Family supporting policies because we know that the building blocks of upward economic mobility-job retention, raises, promotions, and asset development- depend on access to paid Family and medical leave, paid sick days and affordable child care. When taking time for caregiving leads to loss of A job or pay, economic opportunity dries up. Access to paid leave and child care improves Family economic stability and opportunity, gender and racial equity, and public and individual health. Women, low-wage workers, workers of color and lgbtq+ workers are often trapped in A revolving door of economic instability due to A lack of national standards around strong care economy policies.

A major campaign that was in planning stages that will be fully launched in 2024-2025 is the new ecosystem Work: supporting policy ecosystems to make children and families A priority. Fvaw will be A co-anchor of this Work that will support organizations around the country to Work towards long term goals that include: 1) strengthen and reinforce advocated connections working in child advocacy and economic inclusion and in ways that apply A structural racism lens; 2) evolve existing infrastructure to advance long term strategic approaches that stitch together domains of naratives and policy change to center the well being of children and families; 3) influence the national conversation so that children's issues are seen as economic issues and vice-versa; 4) build power at the community, state, and regional level to ensure advocates are centering their Work around the needs of families; and 5) support catalytic policy changes at the state level that enable the conditions to create A more inclusive economy.

In addition to working towards social change on paid leave and childcare issues, we also implemented two new intitiatives in 2023: democracy and integrated voter engagement (dive) and oasis. Dive connects the fight for voting rights to the success of economic issues by engaging communities in voter and civic engagement to win on care infrastructure issues across the country. Oasis is A 9-month cohort based program that provides A protected space and supports A network for women legislators to build the resilience necessary to effectively lead and co-create A society that works for all pepole. The activities of oasis are nonpartisan, 501 c3 compliant.