When I came to Next Generation a year ago, I was excited by its unique niche: policy thinking and communications on issues that affect California’s children and families. This was a place that understood that issues affecting parents and children are inextricably linked, and that smart policy-making can’t be successful without the ability to make it heard and understood.

On July 23, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined business, hospital, and community leaders in Oakland to announce the launch of “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing,” a multi-media community campaign that will help local parents, grandparents, and caregivers improve their babies’ ability to build vocabulary and set them up for brighter futures.

Having the right to take a day off from work when you are ill shouldn’t have to be a dream – it should be a reality for all workers. But millions of Californians are forced to come to work sick or send their child to school ill because they don’t have access to a single paid sick day.

Most hourly and part-time workers report unstable hours. Often times, these workers have little input into their work schedules and may receive their schedules less than a week in advance. Precarious schedules threaten workers’ economic security and create challenges that disproportionately hurt working parents.

Local business and community leaders, including the Bay Area Council, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and Kaiser Permanente, today announced a campaign to better prepare Oakland’s children for success in school and beyond. ‘Talking is Teaching: Talk Read Sing’, aims to close the “word gap“—a difference in the number of words children in high- and low-income families hear.

Today, Next Generation is releasing “Helping Hands: A Review of Home Visiting Programs in California” to highlight the importance of voluntary home visiting programs throughout our big, diverse state. In the coming months, Next Generation will continue to pursue a research agenda focused on home visiting, in collaboration with Children Now.

It’s not very often that you get to celebrate major public policy successes, but this week is different. Thanks to the tireless efforts of advocates, researchers, and workers of all backgrounds, California is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the state’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program.

State elected officials, labor leaders, community advocates, parents and caregivers share research on the nation’s first paid family leave program and highlight the need for increased awareness among low-income, hourly and latino workers.

State elected officials, labor leaders, community advocates, parents and caregivers join together to celebrate the nation’s first Paid Family Leave program.

Ann O’Leary joins Krystal Ball on Ronan Farrow Daily to explain why childcare is one of the chief difficulties faced by women trying to join the workforce in America today.