FPWA leads and co-leads a number of advocacy coalitions and task forces with our member agencies and community partners to engage in strategic policy advocacy work.
We are known as an organization that brings people together on critical issues and galvanizes unified action to address root problems.
FPWA is a member of the Empire State Campaign for Child Care, a group of advocates from across the state fighting for universal access to quality, affordable child care for all children in New York State, regardless of immigration status. The campaign also continues to advocate for the needs of the essential child care workforce to ensure that all providers are paid family-sustaining wages.
FPWA serves on the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Children, which strives to advance policies that improve high-quality early care and education and youth services. The campaign highlights the profound positive impact that these services have on children, families, communities, and the city’s economy, and it elevates the voices of parents, youth, and direct service providers.
FPWA supports the NY Caring Majority, a state-wide movement of seniors, people with disabilities, family caregivers, and domestic and home care workers advocating for fair pay for home care workers.
FPWA, in partnership with Empire Justice Center and The Legal Aid Society, is launching a state-wide coalition to strengthen and expand cash assistance programs and improve the lives of New Yorkers in need.
The Cash Assistance Reform Network will support ongoing legislative efforts to improve New York’s cash assistance programs, including bills to raise the grant amount, and will also work on a broader set of priorities to reimagine the program altogether. These priorities include, among other things, changing the narrative around cash assistance; combating harmful stereotypes about recipients; dismantling the long-standing racial and gender inequities in the program; and transforming the program into one that is responsive to the unique circumstances of individuals and families to enable them to thrive.
If you are interested in joining us in these activities, please fill out the form here.
For more information please see FPWA’s January 2023 report, Caught in the Gaps. This report delved into the many gaps in New York State’s cash assistance programs that perpetuate economic insecurity for New Yorkers with the lowest incomes.
FPWA is a member of a coalition led by NAACP Legal Defense Fund focused on protecting and expanding voting rights in New York State. The coalition helped pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York and now the group is focused on implementing this law.