It was a momentus week for Family Values @ Work and our Network. Senators Bernie Sanders and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Representative Rosa DeLauro, reintroduced the FAMILY and Healthy Families Acts in their respective chambers. Sen. Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. DeLauro (D-CT-03) reintroduced The Healthy Families Act, one of the…

By Preston Van Vliet Have you ever heard of the word “neurodivergent?” Neurodivergence is a broad way of describing folks whose brains function differently compared to the folks whose brains are able to conform to societal “status quos.” Neurodivergence can apply to autistic folks, people with ADHD, learning disabilities & sensory processing disabilities, Tourettes syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, some…

Written By Preston Van Vliet A common phrase in the paid leave advocacy world is, “People don’t think about paid leave until they need to use it,” which is true for a lot of folks. But for chronically ill and disabled workers, we think about it all the time. …

By Sammy Chavin-Grant Last week, one of my best friends Maya gave birth to her first daughter. Last week we were talking about how being home was and how the baby was doing when I realized I had to head out to Capitol Hill to meet with the Congressional Dads…

About the writer: Tony Iovieno serves as the Individual Giving Manager for FV@W. On January 29th, Tony’s family suffered a tragic loss due to a car accident. Tony identifies as a white cis hetero neurodiverse male and uses he/him/his pronouns. TW: Death A few months ago, I was lucky to…

By Family Values @ Work Executive Director Josephine Kalipeni March 14th was Equal Pay Day, the day that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned the year before. Currently, women are paid 84 cents for every dollar men earn. Black women currently earn…

Family Values @ Work (FVAW) is encouraged by President Biden’s budget which includes the strongest investment ever in funding for working families, particularly funding for paid family and medical leave, and paid sick and safe days. The President is showing his continued commitment to put working families first. “No one…

By Teena Lewis When I accepted my role at Family Values at Work four months ago, I had no idea of the enriching liberation work I would be doing. I thought I would be archiving and sharing 20 years of paid leave progress and designing a political curriculum. …

Written By Preston Van Vliet A common phrase in the paid leave advocacy world is, “People don’t think about paid leave until they need to use it,” which is true for a lot of folks. But for chronically ill and disabled workers, we think about it all the time. We need all types of paid leave to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. We need it when we or our loved ones: Have flare-ups; Are in the hospital, either planned or unplanned;