CHICAGO, IL – On August 20, 2024, leaders from Family Values @Work Action and Women Employed, along with national advocacy networks including MomsRising Action, Poder Latinx, Black Women’s Roundtable, and Main Street Alliance, gathered with elected officials, convention delegates, and state-based changemakers at The Sable Hotel on Navy Pier in Chicago to call for an end to patchwork approaches to paid leave and child care and the establishment of a broader care-centered economy. The event drew important connections between care policies, racial justice, maternal health, aging and disability, and worker justice.

Key Highlights:

• Carol Joyner, Executive Director of Family Values @Work Action, said, “Family Values @Work Action is in Chicago to ensure that building the care economy is a part of our nation’s work. We’re joining together with the rising swell of dedicated leaders working on paid family and medical leave, affordable child care, paid safe days, aging and disability care, and the broader slate of care issues. Together, we’ll ensure that every family can thrive, because we can’t build the multiracial democracy that we need unless we have a strong care infrastructure.”
• Cherita Ellens, President and CEO of Women Employed, said, “We all deserve the ability to care for ourselves and our loved ones without risking our livelihood. But across the country, too many of us—especially low-paid women and Women of Color—don’t have that basic right. In Illinois and in Chicago, we have won paid leave protections for working people. We must build upon those protections, and extend them nationwide. We’re proud that we were able to join Family Values @Work Action and other partners to host this event in our city, and bring the urgent need for a care infrastructure to the national stage.” 
• Monifa Bandele, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of MomsRising Action, said, “Care issues are not only vital to a thriving economy. Care issues are critical to ensuring women’s health. The United States is one of the only nations in the world without a national standard for paid family and medical leave, has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality, and is seeing that number rise. If women can’t care for themselves and receive the recovery time they need, it puts them in danger, and it puts their families in danger of losing them. This impacts the health of her and her whole family. We have to have care policies in place to shore up not only economic health, but also physical health. At MomsRising, our members talk about having to return to work a few days to a few weeks after giving birth. We know that’s not healthy.”
• Starr De Los Santos, Associate Director of Coalitions at Women Employed, said, “Coalition work is the backbone of our democracy. When we unite our voices and efforts, we amplify our impact and drive meaningful change. That’s why Women Employed leads the Illinois Time to Care Coalition, which is tirelessly advocating for a long-term paid family and medical leave program in our state. Together, we can achieve a more equitable care economy and come closer to the ‘liberty and justice for all’ that our democracy promises.”
• Rebecca Garrard, Deputy Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York, said, “CitizenAction of New York is proud to stand with our national partners and Family Values @Work Action in lifting up care and democracy issues. We know that our membership prioritizes care issues across demographics and across geographies. Care issues like paid leave and affordable child care are neither controversial nor divisive. Care is a uniting, popular issue for Americans across the country. We know this through polling and the many conversations we have as we organize across the state. This is a pivotal moment to join forces and voices in order to elevate a cause that can dramatically improve the lives of millions of Americans at this moment.”
• Jenn Stowe, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, said, “Our movements and our advocacy efforts are connected. We’re here today because we know a future without aging and disability care and living wages for workers to take care of their families isn’t a future that’s adequate. We have movement leaders fighting for childcare. We have organizers and workers fighting for paid and medical leave. When we invest in those who are historically silenced and overlooked – Black women, brown women, immigrant women, women of color – we build a stronger democracy to make the change we know is possible. That includes care workers, and that includes those who rely on care work every day.”
• Milly Silva, Secretary Treasurer of 1199SEIU, said, “Coalition power is crucial to building a worker-centered economy where we all can thrive.1199SEIU is proud to be fighting alongside our partners for paid leave, dignity, and care for all.”
• Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Alliance, said, “In going around the country and speaking with the small business members of Main Street Alliance, we’re increasingly registering concerns around our patchwork care economy and what it means for the way entrepreneurs–and especially women entrepreneurs–are able to sustain their enterprises. We’re here to elevate small business owners and build power to ensure that they don’t have to choose between caring for our loved ones and protecting their own financial stability.”
• Yadira Sánchez, Executive Director, Poder Latinx, said: “It’s vital to care for our communities and workforce. We need a strong system that allows people to care for themselves and their families without hurting their financial security. The Latinx community, particularly Latinas, must be paid fairly and have access to healthcare, paid family leave, paid sick days, affordable child care, and safe working conditions, and we need these protections nationwide. Beyond economic growth, care policies are essential for the health and well-being of our communities. At Poder Latinx, we advocate and urge voters to prioritize these issues at the polls and call on our leaders to act now.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact Carolyn Davis at media@familyvaluesaction.org or 214-395-8149.

Family Values @ Work Action works in partnership with their state coalitions to build political power among historically disenfranchised voters in the movement for care and caregiving and other economic security issues through public education and civic engagement strategies.

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