Client: Labor Project for Working Families

In May 2001, the Labor Project for Working Families, based in Oakland, CA, sought help for what was anticipated to be a long and arduous campaign to establish paid family-leave in California. The organization's members wanted to train a cadre of advocates around the state who would be able to speak effectively to journalists and at public hearings.

Training
We provided on-camera training to help the advocates develop skills to interact with the media and answer challenging questions.

Strategic consultation
The training helped jump-start the organization's media advocacy strategy by accelerating their decisions about who would speak for the organization and what they would say.

Framing memo
Because the legislature passed and the governor signed a paid family-leave bill earlier than anticipated, we wrote a framing memo to help the California advocates reflect on the work they did on the landmark bill so that they could assist those advocating similar legislation in 27 other states.

The framing memo describes how the battle for paid family leave was framed by opponents and propronents in California and national news coverage, providing insights for both advocates who want to make the case and journalists who want to do a good job covering the story as it ignites across the nation.

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