Valuing Families

Families need help. That's the message that every parent will tell you, as costs strain family budgets.

We need to help families provide their core economic needs:

• We should make dramatic reforms in Health Care to restrain costs and to make quality care available and affordable for every person and family in our society.
• With housing the largest expense for most family budgets, we should redouble efforts to make Affordable Housing available for all families across the country.
• We should promote the rebuilding of workplace-based Pensions and provide families with additional Asset Building opportunities.
• All school should receive equitable funding to assure Quality Education for each child, and we should make sure that college education is affordable for all families.

With the rise of two-earner families, single parenthood, and "blended" families from divorce, we need to help families Balance Work and Family demands:

• We should provide help with Child Care costs and expand Pre-Kindergarten programs to improve early childhood development.
• Workplaces should offer adequate paid time off for Family Leave.
• In order to promote workplace equality for women, we should defend Reproductive Freedom and contraceptive equity.

Progressives believe that if we take these steps, we will strengthen all families. What we firmly reject is the lie that traditional families are strengthened by scapegoating poor families, single mothers, gay partnerships or new immigrant families in our communities. We are dedicated to Respect for all Families and we have a special commitment to Support for Low-Income Families who need greater resources to empower them to cope with the hard challenges they face in the present global economy.