When I had my first baby, I experienced how motherhood comes with economic barriers. I got more and more angry as I learned about how the lack of value for care in our society has a devastating effect on women’s, mothers’ and caregivers’ economic security.

I found some other struggling and exasperated mothers, and we started organizing. We learned that the system was bigger and more powerful than we had realized, but also that we could make a real difference. So we committed ourselves to building an organization that would center mothers and caregiving in the larger fight for racial, gender, economic and reproductive justice.

I have worn many many hats in my years with this organization. The work never ends but I am here because of our bold vision, the amazing people I work with, and the incredible progress we’ve made together.

Growing up, it was normal to only see my parents for maybe a couple of hours throughout the day. My mom worked nights and slept during the day, while my dad worked all day and would find himself too exhausted to take care of himself, but still used whatever remaining energy to make my sister and me a meal. When I wasn’t at school, I was helping around the house and taking care of my little sister. This is the reality for a lot of immigrant families, and it forces children to grow up at such an early age. With the skills that I carry and the life experiences that I have, I’m eager to help families new to the country be better supported in their work/family life balance.

Family Forward has shown me that they value and care for all families no matter what they look like or where they come from. My values and beliefs as a Black woman in the US are mirrored through the work that Family Forward does for communities in need, whether it's through their policy work, community organizing, or getting the champions we need to push for change.

We are currently in unprecedented territory when it comes to the overall state of our federal systems — from Roe v Wade being overturned, to threats of cutting federal funding for important child care programs. With capitalism still being a priority in this country over the needs of working families, it is up to organizations like ours to fight for care, not coin (unless that coin is for care). I’m excited to be a part of an organization that I know has the fighting power to enact change.

I first developed a passion for advocacy in college, fighting for human rights and reproductive freedom. My determination to create social change and my commitment to gender, racial, and economic justice led me to a career in organizing, candidate campaign work, and public service. But when I became a mother, I struggled to maintain a career, provide for my family, and pay for child care. Frustrated, overwhelmed, and isolated, I went looking for solutions.

That’s when I found Family Forward, an organization that understood my struggles and was fighting to build an equitable system and improve the lives and outcomes of ALL mothers and caregivers.

For too long, our county has relied on the free or underpaid labor of women, particularly women of color, to care for our children and families. The pandemic opened many people’s eyes to how critical our care economy is but we still have a long way to go in the fight to achieve the equitable systems that mothers and caregivers need to thrive. I’m proud to be fighting this fight with Family Forward.

My quest for equity, fairness, & justice began as a child. My personal experiences with sexism fueled my desire to learn more about systems of oppression and how to dismantle them. After earning my Women’s Studies/Political Science degree, I brought that knowledge to a career in public policy and state level politics. Over the past 20 years, I have worked with amazing people to pass laws increasing equity and economic security for women, foster children, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ & low income Oregonians.

When we had my third daughter, child care costs exceeded my wages and it was not economically feasible to work. After three years out of the workforce, Family Forward offered me a position to lead the Universal Child Care policy work. Family Forward’s flexible schedule and workplace culture allows me to balance my family demands with my job. I am blessed to work together with my Family Forward colleagues as we reform and rebuild a child care system that reflects the social and economic value of care work.

COVID spotlighted the critical role of child care in our economy. Its effect on workforce participation. And its reliance on the under- and/or unpaid labor of women, and disproportionately BIPOC and immigrant women. This moment has given us an opportunity for change. We can build a system where every family has access to the child care they need and the child care workforce’s wages and benefits reflect the essential and skilled labor they provide.

I fell into motherhood in my 30s with no experience of caregiving for anyone aside from myself, and never having planned on being a mother. I was fully unprepared for how much I would need help, and completely naive to the fact that there was no societal support available to moms, especially single moms.

Family Forward was started by moms who shared and understood my experiences, and were fighting to make things better for caregivers - and they were getting results. Family Forward believed in me, validated my experiences, and were willing to invest in me to help advocate for myself and others.

I have been involved in this work for years and I know that while we have made gains we still have so far to go. This is work that will take more than my lifetime to accomplish, and hopefully I will have inspired my kids to take on the work after I’m gone.

I am an #abortionbae for life (like really)! I believe that every person should have access to a safe and legal abortion. I started to get involved in my community as a fellow with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. The first time I ever testified during legislative session was 2019 in support of Paid Leave Oregon. I remember being a teen mom navigating parenthood thousands of miles away from my family in Hawaii. I was fortunate to be offered paid maternity leave but other pregnant colleagues did not. In 2013 when my youngest child was 10 months old they needed to be hospitalized and my job refused to offer me paid time off and I was worried that I would get fired if I had to call out. Now that it’s been a few years dedicated to community organizing I see firsthand how community can come together to develop policies and laws that reflect what we want and not wealthy business owners or the government.

I wanted to join a team that was ready to shake shit up in the building through community organizing and building a powerful movement of parents and care providers. With Roe V Wade overturned and our community at it’s ultimate lowest in trusting our government, it is so important that we connect with community to inform them on decisions being made that will impact them!

I am a Mother who found society, family, and life did not support the work I do as a mother and medical mother/caregiver for my son. I say life and society chose the right one on the wrong day because I knew my determination to make this work visible and my fight for mothers like me is unmatched.

I chose Family Forward as the catalyst of my personal mission in making systemic change because we inherently value the often invisible work of caregiving and motherhood. I recognize that working for a political organization is a highly visible mechanism for creating systemic change in American society. In the words of Harriet Tubman "I go to prepare a place for you..."

I do this work now because I recognize this fight has existed for decades before me and I am lending my energy to this fight so future generations can experience a better value of care in society.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Care has always been a central part of my mission in life. The work I have done as a caregiver, teacher, and support group facilitator for trans youth, alongside the experiences I have had watching my parents and friends struggle to find adequate care for their children and older relatives have continually reinforced that family support is dangerously undervalued in the United States.

Family Forward is an organization that is not scared to make the tangible changes that will improve the state of care for all Oregonians. It has been refreshing to find an organization that not only lives out the values they advocate for, but ensures their work uplifts those who historically have been left behind by systemic support. They are paving the way, and I am ecstatic to be a part of it.

The struggle for better family care options came long before me, but I am honored to have a hand in shaping it now. I have learned that direct action is essential to overcome exclusionary policies limiting family wellbeing, and the best time to act on that was yesterday. The opportunity to be in this role is the opportunity to be a change-maker. I can’t think of any better reason to get out of bed in the mornings.

In 2019 my son was born. I worked for a small family company that did not have paid maternity leave and Paid Family Leave in Oregon was not yet available. Shortly after he was born, the pandemic hit, so health and safety had become an even bigger concern when looking for childcare (not to mention the ridiculous cost, as well). The best choice for our family– was for me to be a stay at home Mom, while my husband continued to work. I could never find a job that would be truly accommodating to my life as a Mom- who has little to no help with childcare. I quickly learned that I wasn’t the only one in this boat, and I was determined to get back in the workforce; but needed to find a job that would advocate family life ALSO being a priority.

It was a struggle, even with a bachelor’s degree, to find a job that would allow me the flexibility to still be a full time Mom. It felt like my gap in employment, though a meaningful one, had become a huge barrier when trying to get back into the workforce. I ironically came across Family Forward while venting about my frustrations on a local online mom’s group. I was just looking for a remote, 9 to 5 job, hoping to help financially- without needing to pay for childcare. Family Forward, however, has given me a chance to start a career path again and still take care of my family. I am excited to be working for such an amazing organization that is confident in my ability to balance work and Mom life.

The world we live in unfortunately, has many barriers that hinder the average Mom, Parent or Caregiver- from being able to thrive in a career and also thrive at home; I’ve felt this struggle first hand. So right now, in the thick of it- working for an organization that is making a huge impact in the state to break those barriers, is a part of history! And I am so excited to be a part of that!!

I came to this work through the pro-choice movement, working to protect and expand access to abortion in Oregon. I believe deeply that everyone should be able to decide for themselves if and when they become a parent.

At Family Forward I found an organization that not only shares my belief in and commitment to protecting access to abortion, but is truly embodying the pro-choice movement by not just supporting people’s choice to have an abortion but supporting people when they choose to become parents.

Now more than ever, national attacks on choice and the continued devaluing of care and caregiving, demonstrates the importance of Family Forward’s work to achieve racial, gender, and economic equity for mothers and caregivers.

I have been fighting for the needs of our most historically underserved children and families since before I can remember. While advocating for fair treatment of my own family in the educational system, fighting for students of color, students with disabilities, students learning English, or fighting for systemic change to interrupt racist practices, transformational organizing has always been at the heart. I am excited to be able to bring my education, experience, and humanity to an organization wholly focused on lifting up the voices of mothers and caregivers.

Family Forward’s history highlights a steadfast commitment to organizing for political change. For too long, the work of women and women of color has been ignored, under supported, and often made invisible. Family Forward is an organization that seeks to de-center traditional power, to make the historically unappreciated and hidden contributions of care work to our economic success highlighted and visible. Family Forward is a place that wants to see our community achieve, and that does that through actualizing its values of Equity, Intersectionality, Collective Power, Integrity, and Transformation. The level of systemic change we’ve already achieved is proof that this is a place that seeks to interrupt traditional power struggles, and I am honored to steward this work here.

We know that systems of power and oppression rooted in racism, anti-blackness, and hetero normativity are constantly at work to maintain the centralization of power in the hands of very few. Today, families continue to struggle to provide care for each other while also trying to eat, maintain housing, and thrive. The time is now to make true transformative change driven by the voices of mothers and caregivers, and the time is now to ramp up the fight for the care economy.