The Ford Foundation’s New Strategy Meets the Moment—Where Care and Democracy Intersect

Ford Foundation President Heather Gerken’s recent message, How We Meet This Moment, goes straight to the heart of this moment. Her vision of strengthening democratic values, protecting fundamental freedoms, and building inclusive economies speaks directly to the work our movement has been doing for more than two decades.

In 2003, the Ford Foundation and the Casey Foundation provided seed funding to help launch Family Values @ Work. At the time, we were organizing in eight states around an idea that was both simple and ambitious: Every working person deserves the time and economic security to care for themselves and the people they love.

We knew changing the rules would take more than good ideas. It would take people willing to share their stories, organize their neighbors, build alliances, and keep showing up even when progress seemed impossibly far away.

Twenty-three years later, that early investment has helped grow a movement spanning 33 organizations across 30 states. Together, Family Values @ Work leadership and our network partners have helped secure 68 paid sick and safe days laws and 15 paid family and medical leave programs, extending protections to more than 69 million workers. Along the way, our understanding of what it takes to build lasting change has continued to grow.

Some of the most powerful ideas in Ford’s renewed strategy are accelerating gender equality, building just and inclusive economies, advancing racial justice, and protecting our democracy.

These priorities resonate deeply with us. We believe people must have the freedom and agency to shape their own lives and care for one another.

Freedom is difficult to exercise when your choices are limited.

As our executive director, Gayle Goldin, and co-author Julie Kashen argued in a recent Ms. magazine essay, “care is democratic infrastructure”—essential to the economic security, freedom, and collective power that make a thriving democracy possible.

At Family Values @ Work, we help make that work possible by bringing advocates together, sharing expertise and resources, supporting state campaigns, and strengthening the infrastructure needed to sustain progress.

We’ve seen what happens when a breakthrough in one state inspires advocates in another. When a hard lesson becomes a shared strategy. When a local organizer finds partners across the country ready to help.

There’s something deeply encouraging about seeing a longtime partner reaffirm a vision that resonates so closely with the work we’ve dedicated ourselves to for more than two decades.

We welcome President Gerken’s leadership and the Ford Foundation’s renewed sense of purpose. We’re grateful for the Foundation’s early belief in our movement, its continued partnership, and its commitment to a future in which more people have the power to shape their own lives.