Friends,

Last weekend, I had the chance to share with my mom that Maine was successful in passing Paid Family & Medical Leave. Neither of us had paid family leave when we had children. My mom shared about not having paid time to be with her parents or brother at the end of their lives. I shared my experience of ten years on the Homicide Review Panel, and witnessing cases of infants who died shortly after birth because families had no safe place for them, and they had to go back to work. We cried together - but mostly tears of happiness and looking forward.

Transformative change like this doesn't happen alone: so many partners were alongside the Maine Women's Lobby, from bill sponsors and allies, to coalition partners, to funders, members, designers and communication supporters, policy advisors, storytellers, testifiers, and so many more champions.

Later this month, we will gather at Broadturn Farm to celebrate - not only Paid Family and Medical Leave, but stabilizing childcare investments, expanded abortion access, and so much more. We will also acknowledge the work to come: as we celebrated wins, there were also profound losses and missed opportunities, and the Supreme Court gutted key principles that build race, class, and gender equity. There is so much more to do.

Can you join us to celebrate and build solidarity for our future work together? More information about our event is at our website. We hope to see you there!

In solidarity,

--Destie Hohman Sprague

MWL/EF Executive Director

Learn more about our event and get tickets.