News

May 27, 2020

Growing Together: Lunch & Learn Series

Join the Women & Girls Foundation, Pathways PA, and MomsRising on Fridays at noon for a “lunch and learn” series to discuss how families are adapting, how communities can come together to support each other during this time, and what resources are available to help families thrive.

About

Every week presenters will discuss a hot topic for working people and families, including paid leave, eldercare, parenting young kids, and more. Stop by to connect to resources, ask questions, meet others, and share what you’re experiencing.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the event webpage.

News

April 16, 2020

COVID-19 Support Programs Webinar

Join MomsRising, along with experts from CLASP, National Employment Law Project (NELP), Food Research and Action Council (FRAC), and National Immigration Law Council, on April 21 for “COVID-19 Support Programs Webinar” to learn what you need to know to apply for assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About

This online webinar will provide information on how to access the new COVID-19 programs recently passed by Congress, including paid sick days, paid family leave, unemployment insurance, and nutrition assistance. Presenters will also discuss the impacts of these programs on immigrant families. The webinar will take place on Zoom and will include both Spanish and English language options.

Registration

To register, please visit the event webpage. If you are unable to attend the day of the event, a recording of the webinar and a resource page will be sent out as well after the conclusion of the event.

News

August 5, 2019

For Children’s Long-Term Success, Families Need Paid Leave

When a family introduces a new child into their life, the last thing they should have to worry about is if they have the time and money to properly care for and bond with their child. However, families across the Commonwealth are in that exact situation, with many caregivers involuntarily reducing their work hours, changing jobs, or leaving the workforce entirely.

Early Interactions Matter

While many may associate childhood learning with the education system, learning and development begin much earlier than a child’s first classroom experience. Parents and caregivers are children’s first teachers, and to support the long-term success of the next generation, we need to ensure that all caregivers are afforded the opportunity to care for and bond with their children.

In Pennsylvania, there are more than 870,000 children under the age of six. Of those children, 41 percent live in low-income households. While about 51 percent of children birth to age five are in non-parental care for at least 10 hours per week, accessing such services can be difficult and expensive. Due to high costs, limited seats, and child care deserts, families across the Commonwealth are left without access to the affordable, high-quality child care services they need.

The difficulties don’t stop there. Without child care access, families have limited options. They can rotate their child through a list of available family members and friends; reduce or shift their work hours; change their profession; or leave the workforce entirely. More often than not, these challenges disproportionately affect women who make up 94 percent of workers that involuntarily work part-time due to child care problems. While these options exist, all of them can lead to negative outcomes, including financial insecurity, inconsistent caregiving, increased family stress, and difficulties reentering the workforce.

Research shows that positive interactions with consistent adult caregivers are important during children’s early development, as they optimize the development of brain pathways for the visual and auditory senses, motor and language processing, higher cognitive functioning, and emotional regulation. This challenge is more than just having someone around to look after a child. It’s about establishing the conditions children need to experience success later in life.

Current Policy

In the current family leave system, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. FMLA was designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities, providing this benefit to employees at public agencies, public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. However, just because unpaid leave is available does not mean that it is accessible. In January 2019, the National Partnership for Women and Families reported out that unpaid leave under the FMLA is inaccessible for 59 percent of working people.

The Family Care Act

If Pennsylvania passes the Family Care Act, families will no longer have to choose between remaining financially stable in the workforce and caring for their young child in the most critical period of their life. The Family Care Act establishes a statewide insurance fund, similar to Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation fund, which allows individuals to draw down a portion of their salary for:

    • Up to 12 weeks to care for a family member with a serious health condition
    • Up to 12 weeks to care for a covered service member as covered under FMLA
    • Up to 20 weeks to care for their own serious health condition
    • Up to 20 weeks to care for a new child after a birth, adoption, or placement through foster care

In Pennsylvania, families should come first. To ensure caregivers’ financial security, healthy relationship development, and workplace success, we need to make sure that they have access to the paid leave they need to care for their family. For the long-term personal, academic, and professional success of our youngest generation, we need to pass the Family Care Act.

Take Action

Paid family leave is not only a family value, it’s also a Pennsylvania value–and that’s a fact. Use your voice to advocate for families by encouraging the state government to pass the Family Care Act. Visit the campaign page to learn more.

To stay up-to-date on advocacy opportunities, sign up for Trying Together’s Public Policy newsletter or visit our Take Action page.

News

May 7, 2019

Email Congress in Support of the FAMILY Act

This week, the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on paid family and medical leave, with testimony from expert witnesses, including advocates, a business owner, a state official, and researchers. But without your expertise, they will miss the voice of crucial stakeholders – babies!

What You Can Do

In advance of the hearing, babies need you to contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support comprehensive paid leave for working families – the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act. The Family Act is:

  • Inclusive: Provided to all working people, no matter where they live or the nature of their job;
  • Comprehensive: Offers extensive coverage of personal family caregiving and medical needs;
  • Meaningful: Gives a meaningful duration of leave to allow people sufficient time to meet their care and health needs – at least 12 weeks – and a wage replacement rate and benefit level that makes taking leave financially possible for everyone;
  • Sustainable: Funded in a way that is affordable for workers, employers, and the government without harming other essential programs; and
  • Secure: Protects workers from retaliation or adverse employment consequences for requesting or taking leave.

With public demand for comprehensive national paid leave stronger than ever before, now is the time to urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor the FAMILY Act.

Take Action

Email your Members of Congress now in support of our nation’s babies and families!

*Information provided by Zero to Three

News

March 11, 2019

New Study on Maternity Leave Unveiled

Study

A new study in the International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy finds a direct link between length of maternity leave and quality of mother-child interactions. The study: The Role of Length of Maternity Leave in Supporting Mother-Child Interactions and Attachment Security Among American Mothers and Their Infants suggests these results have implications for the development of family policies that support the needs of infants and mothers during the first months of life.

Policy

The implementation of comprehensive and universal maternity leave policy can complement child care policies. Both quality child care and maternity leave policies constitute solutions to similar needs. The results of this study support the need for parents to have the opportunity to choose to take maternity before infants enter child care. While quality child care can result in positive developmental outcomes for the infants, maternity leave can ensure that mothers have time off from work. This way, maternity leave can give mothers the opportunity to spend time with their infants, engage in positive and stress-free interactions, and learn to read a child’s cues before they negotiate the stress of balancing parenting and work. Ultimately, a combination of comprehensive maternity leave and child care policies will give each family the opportunity to have some choice in timing and combination of work, leave, and child care.

Read the complete study here.