May Newsletter
Thank you for making Advocacy Day 2025 a Success!
On April 30th, 75 Coalition partners and members from across the state took part in a bilingual virtual advocacy day to educate their legislators on how the Coalition's priority bills will support their communities. New and returning advocates participated, with one new partner sharing that they appreciated how organized and accessible it was, and that they learned more about the Coalition’s bills and priority issues.
Thanks to incredible member and partner advocacy, the bills on our 2025 Legislative Priorities list are one step closer to passing:
SB 590 (Durazo) Paid Family Leave for Chosen Family: Passed out of the Senate Floor with bipartisan support. SB 590 would ensure that workers can access the Paid Family Leave benefits they pay for to care for a member of their chosen or extended family. To read more about the importance of making paid family leave more inclusive, read this article from the California Budget Center.
AB 65 (Aguiar-Curry) Pregnancy Leave for Educators: Moved from Assembly Appropriations to the Assembly Floor
SB 578 (Smallwood-Cuevas) California Workplace Outreach Program (CWOP): Moved from Senate Appropriations to the Senate Floor
We look forward to continuing to advocate together, and we thank everyone for joining us and making a difference!
Building Power Through Care: Highlights from the FV@W Annual Meeting
From May 13th-15th, California Work & Family Coalition staff members Katie Duberg and Jasmine Amian attended the Family Values @ Work (FV@W) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. FV@W is our national partner with a network of 27 state coalitions dedicated to advancing paid leave, paid sick days, and care infrastructure through grassroots organizing and policy advocacy.
This Annual Meeting, Network Strong: Community, Care & Purpose, brought together organizers, advocates, and coalition leaders from across the country. Coalition Political Organizing Director, Katie Duberg, spoke about organizing across movements on two breakout panels: Connecting Care Across Movement Issues and Grassroots Organizing for Care Economy Policies. Coalition staff also joined network members for a lobby day in the Capitol, where they met with five California Congressional offices to advocate to protect programs workers and families rely on like Medicaid, SNAP, and childcare.This gathering demonstrated the resilience and creativity of the FV@W network, and the importance of unity in our ongoing federal fight to ensure that everyone can live with dignity and care for their loved ones.
Despite enormous outcry from the public, unfortunately the House passed the budget reconciliation package threatening the essential programs listed above last week. However, this fight is not over and you can still make your voice heard! In order for this proposal to become law, the Senate must agree with the proposal the House put forward. We invite you to join us in calling on our Representatives to prioritize the needs of workers and families, not corporations and the extremely wealthy, click here to take action.
1) Coalition Staff Jasmine Amian and Katie Duberg 2) Le'a Hanawahine and Mai Kapuaoʻihilani Mei-Lin Hall from Hawai'i Children's Action Network (HCAN), Katie, Jasmine 3) Jasmine, Katie, Carissa Bunge the Legislative Director to Rep. Laura Friedman, and Diane Harris, CLASP
Young Workers Learn Their Rights at Berkeley City College
On April 23rd, the California Work & Family Coalition co-hosted a Know Your Rights: CA Labor and Paid Leave Rights for Young Workers training at Berkeley City College (BCC) in partnership with Katya Schiesser, a member of the Students for Social Change Club. Around 20 students joined during their lunch hour to learn about workplace protections like minimum wage, breaks, wage theft, paid sick days, Paid Family Leave and Disability Insurance—as well as tips on how to communicate with their employers. Coalition trainings equip young workers with information and practice advocating for themselves and their peers in the workplace. Students left with helpful handouts from UC Berkeley Labor Center to reference. To learn more about young workers, visit the Young Worker Education Project website, hosted by the UCLA Labor Center.
Interested in partnering to bring Know Your Rights trainings to more young workers? Reach out to jasmine.amian@workfamilyca.org—we’d love to collaborate!
Jasmine Amian and Students for Social Change Club at Berkely Ciy College
Spreading the Word About Paid Family Leave for Caregivers
Coalition partner Karen Ben-Moshe, Policy Program Officer with Blue Shield of California Foundation. took time off to help her mother care for her father last year and her experience led her to reflect on the importance of Paid Family Leave for millions of Californians.
In this op-ed in California Health Report, she celebrates the great strides the California Work & Family Coalition has made over the last two decades thanks to members and national partners like Karen and Blue Shield. She also points out that we still have work to do from extending paid leave to those who care for chosen and extended family, expanding the amount of time people can take, and helping more caregivers like herself understand their rights to take CA Paid Family Leave.
Coalition Members Share the Importance of Paid Family Leave for Mother’s Day
Coalition members, Jana Wright, Director of Policy at Insure the Uninsured, and Jasmine Pettis Marquez, Executive Director at the California Breastfeeding Coalition, joined the Coalition at our Statewide Meeting in November to share why SB 951 is important to their communities.
Both leaders spoke about the importance of Paid Family Leave for mothers, emphasizing the increase to wage replacement rates will allow more mothers to stay home. Jasmine Pettis Marquez spoke about SB 951 helping mothers reach their infant feeding goals, view her video here. Jana Wright spoke about how crucial it is for mothers to be home to bond with their babies during those critical times, view her video here.
We are excited to share their videos in celebration of Mother's Day and we look forward to sharing more videos from our members. Follow the California Work & Family Coalition on Instagram to stay up to date!
