To build strong families we need an expansive vision, effective strategies for organizing, and a vibrant movement. Here are some tools and resources from our Strong Families leaders to support YOU in this work.
New Tools from Forward Together and Strong Families Partners
Engagement is crucial to passing strong public policy at the state level. But understanding the inner workings of the state capitol can be confusing at times. Lifting Our Voices: Leading Change for Our Families demystifies the state legislative process by explaining how bills become law in Virginia...and how individuals can influence the process to create better public policy for their families and their communities.
Led by Forward Together and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights with the support of Research Action Design and 20 grassroots partners, Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families proves that the costs of locking up millions of people is much deeper than we think – when we lock up individuals we also break apart their families and communities. This new report reveals the overwhelming debt, mental and physical ailments and severed family bonds that are some of the hidden consequences of incarceration in the United States. The situation is dire, but a better approach is possible according to Who Pays? which suggests critical and achievable family-centered reforms.
Improving Health Insurance Enrollment and Access to Health Care in New Mexico (2015)
The NM Breaking Barriers Report on the state of healthcare in New Mexico uses original research from nearly 200 healthcare surveys, 16 in person interviews, as well as data provided by healthcare.gov and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to understand how to increase enrollment and access to quality healthcare for more New Mexican families. Research and data partners for the report include Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at UNM and the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).
In the fall of 2014, organizational leaders from work-family, LGBTQ, labor, and reproductive justice organizations explored work-place leave campaigns from a movement building perspective. We hope this document will spark further thinking at the local, state, and national levels so that an increasing number of campaigns will embody a movement building approach to win the strongest possible policies that create equity for everyone.
This Strong Families media guide is intended to be used by a variety of traditional and new media outlets seeking to learn about or expand their knowledge of RJ in their writing. With the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 2015, our first RJ In Focus looks at abortion, in part due to renewed state-level attacks on access to abortion, and increased coverage of reproductive rights in the media.
"Who's Who" Voter Guides (2014)
Civic participation means getting everyday folks involved in the decisions that affect our families and communities. Election season is an especially important time for us to speak up, and there are many ways we can all get involved in the process, regardless of our citizenship status or whether we can vote. The state guides can help us get involved in the process. Each one explains the kinds of decisions that people in elected positions make about issues that impact our daily lives.
We collaborated with ROC United to survey current and former restaurant workers across 39 states to examine the conditions that low-wage restaurant workers face along the lines of unwanted sexual behavior and harassment.
This political education curriculum, developed by Forward Together and Western States Center, supports social justice organizations to build a shared understanding of abortion as one aspect of reproductive and sexual health; explore abortion access through the lens of racial, economic and immigrant justice; and find pathways to action in support of abortion rights. Click here for the full "We Are Brave" toolkit from the Western States Center.
We've created this guide to help you evaluate your healthcare needs, navigate your new insurance options, and choose the best plan for you and your family.
The Strong Families New Mexico Legislative Report Card examines 18 pieces of legislation introduced during the 2013 regular session that would have direct impacts – positive or negative – on families in New Mexico.
This report contains the outcomes and analysis from a youth participatory action-based research project to assess the state of sex education within Oakland Schools.
Our policy criteria helps us evaluate policy and legislation to ensure that all families can thrive. These guidelines surface questions you can use to check how a policy will impact families in your community.
Strong Families Stories
Understanding Reproductive Justice
A resource to help organizations conduct surveys to identify reproductive justice issues in our communities.
Three Applications of the Reproductive Justice Lens / Tres Formas de Aplicar el Lente de la Justicia Reproductiva (2009)
A training curriculum for building a shared language and analysis of reproductive justice, in English and Spanish.
A New Vision for Advancing Our Movement for Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Justice (2005)
ACRJ's groundbreaking analysis of the framework and vision for reproductive justice, described by organizations and funders as revelatory and pivotal to the field.
A guide for organizing your community around reproductive justice issues. Download the What's the Real Problem? poster here.
Connecting Issues and Communities
This report is a multi-issue and multiracial assessment of the 2011 legislative session in Oregon. It models how we can evaluate lawmakers' commitment to advancing opportunity and closing disparities for people of color.
A handbook for nail salon workers and owners to shift toward less toxic products and practices to ensure that their businesses are ready for the transition to a green economy, as well as to protect the health of their families.
Volume 5 of the EMERJ Momentum Series, published in partnership with the New Orleans Women's Health and Justice Initiative, examines the experiences of women working in low wage toxic industries with a new framework for understanding how to mobilize grassroots communities around climate change.
Sexuality Education Justice
A two-sided brochure to complement the Transforming API Communities: Tools for Sexuality Education toolkit. A quick and easy tool for parents and agencies who work with parents to use to start the conversation about sex and our bodies.
A one-of-a-kind resource for supporting Asian and Pacific Islander parents and caregivers in engaging in dialogue and action around sexuality education.
Building Movements for Change
Movement Building Indicators (2010)
Winning Reproductive Justice: Contributions to Policy Change from the Reproductive Justice Movement (2008)
Volume 1 of the EMERJ Momentum Series offers case studies of organizing efforts across the country to showcase the specific and unique ways that the Reproductive Justice Movement is advancing both short-term and long-term policy battles.
Use this guide to help you make informed decisions about candidates, ballot measures, and any other public policy proposals.
In an effort to increase community engagement amongst Latinas, NLIRH created this toolkit on civic participation to present a myriad of ways that all Latinos could become active in civic and political affairs.