Culture Change
For 20 years, FV@W has been at the forefront of the national movement for economic well-being for working families, organizing to win local, state, and federal paid family and medical leave, paid sick and safe days, and affordable childcare policies. While such policy change can produce almost immediate improvements in working families’ lives, we also recognize the need for radical shifts in the cultural context in which our fight for these policies is taking place.
We need to shift people’s expectations of our society and economy and what we deserve. Our Culture Change projects help people recognize that they are born for care and that they are living in systems that are failing families. Then we help people get engaged in our movement for lasting change.
These transformations in thinking are essential to making policy change stick and to winning an economy in which everyone has time to care and thrive. Here is a sample of our Culture Change Projects:
Family Stories
This Is My Family is a project of The Family Justice Network, convened by A Better Balance and Family Values at Work.
Throughout our history, communities who have suffered — and continue to experience — oppression, such as immigrants, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and people of color, have woven together support systems to keep each other safe, healthy and nourished. All families need time to care, whether they are related by blood, marriage, or affinity. The “This Is My Family” campaign celebrates all types of families and calls on our leaders to use inclusive definitions of family when designing policies.
Games
We at Family Values @ Work believe that playing games can lead to people seeing themselves as agents of change while creating joyful, memorable moments that inspire action. And honestly, joy is something we need more of in order to sustain our movement. With that in mind, we will be launching a new game every year.
Games can be powerful tools for change. See what we’ve created!
Films
#TimeToCare is the eighth documentary by Ky Dickens, who has a track record for creating poignant work known for shifting policy and public opinion. She was inspired to make films about paid leave after facing financial duress, emotional turmoil and guilt due to a lack of paid leave after the birth of her first child. We are proud to have partnered with Ky to make this film available to our network for screening
Comedy
Paid Leave for All and our partners collaborated with The Center for Media & Social Impact on comedy sketches for paid leave. We used humor to shed light on — and bring humanity to — this issues that touch each and every one of us in different ways. The comedians are well known for their work on shows like Last Week Tonight, Astronomy Club, Broad City, Second City, Conan, Ellen, and more.
See clips from some of the comedians that participated in the project: Walter Kelly, Alyssa Limperis, and Keisha Zollar.
For more information about our Culture Change work, or to discuss ideas and partnerships, please email info@familyvaluesatwork.org, attn. Culture Change. Thank you!