Make it Work is Sunsetting. Here are a Few of Our Favorite Organizations.

December 21, 2017

Make It Work launched in June 2014 as a three-year campaign to seize a narrow window of opportunity that existed in the lead-up to the 2016 election: the chance to mainstream and illuminate the economic security issues that women and families struggle with everyday. With that in mind, in May 2015, we released a visionary policy proposal focused on caregiving, equal pay and work-family issues. We focused on child care, preK and elder care; pay transparency and the fight for $15; as well as paid family and medical leave, earned sick days, fair scheduling, and workplace fairness for pregnant women.

The current political moment is not the one we (or probably you) anticipated. At the same time, we know that public demand remains strong for an economic justice agenda for women and families. We are proud of the work we have done over these three years to amplify the demand for these issues, move policy ideas forward and shift the conversation in favor of progress.

Although we are leaving the national stage, many advocates continue to fight the good fight, boldly, and with vision. We are grateful for their partnership, ongoing leadership, and powerful resistance efforts.

Here, we have highlighted some of the groups with whom we have worked closely over the last several years, but is by no means an exhaustive list. We hope that you find their work as inspiring as we have.

Child Care and Early Education

We worked in close partnership with many organizations along the way in our fight for bold child care reform, and in support of the Child Care for Working Families Act. We partnered closely with the Center for American Progress (CAP) and co-authored a Blueprint for Child Care Reform with them. We worked in tandem with SEIU, AFT, MomsRising, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the Center for Community Change (CCC) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD). We joined a coalition led by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and relied on their expertise and institutional knowledge. We planned events with Every Child Matters and promoted Child Care Works with Child Care Aware and regularly relied on their Parents and the High Cost of Care reports. And we relied on the expertise and passion of advocates like CLASP, Caring Across Generations, NAEYC, Young Invincibles, Parents Together, OUR Walmart and the Afterschool Alliance to aid us in setting and executing a bold vision for the future.

Equal Pay

In 2016, the Obama Administration made an audacious move toward public pay transparency to help women achieve equal pay. The current Administration and Republicans in Congress have rolled this advance back, but many of our friends are leading the fight to reinstate the progress that was made, move forward the Paycheck Fairness Act, and make progress on equal pay policies in states across the nation. The National Women’s Law Center, The American Association of University Women, CAP, and the ACLU are at the forefront of these efforts. The Equal Pay Today! Campaign brings together many of the leading groups in the fight for equal pay. MomsRising, the National Partnership for Women & Families, A Better Balance, the National Hispanic Leadership Alliance and the AFL-CIO are key partners in this fight as well, while the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) provides critical data to make the case for equal pay.

The National Women’s Law Center, SEIU and the Restaurant Opportunities Center are also leading the fight for raising the minimum wage and one fair wage — with a gender and race lens, an inseparable part of the picture.

Work and Family

Since Make It Work launched, 34 states and localities have had paid sick days wins, for a total of 40 paid sick days victories to date, while nationally support for the Healthy Families Act continues to pick up steam. New York, Washington State and Washington, DC have passed paid family and medical leave laws, for a total of six wins across the nation — building momentum toward the federal FAMILY Act. Fair scheduling and Workplace Fairness for Pregnant Women bills have also moved on the state and local level, while the Fair Scheduling Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act remain important goals in Congress.

At the helm of these efforts? Family Values @ Work is a national network of 25 state and local coalitions fighting for paid sick days and family leave insurance. The National Partnership for Women & Families and A Better Balance provide national leadership and state support for these fights. MomsRising members regularly engage in the efforts to make it easier to earn a living and have a family. Other key work and family partners: CAP, IWPR, CLASP, the Black Women’s Roundtable, NWLC, Mi Familia Vota, CCC and CPD.

The Make It Work campaign is sunsetting, but these advocates, researchers and experts are working to ensure that common sense work and family policies will be within reach for more families than ever before.

Please reach out to them, or to me, at julie@makeitworkcampaign.org, for more information on any of these important efforts.