Women's Legal Education and Action Fund Inc (LEAF)

Published purpose

Through this 30-month systemic change project, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) will help advance women’s economic security and prosperity. Specifically, the project will address systemic barriers within the care economy in order to properly value care work, beginning with the creation of an advisory committee and engagement of key stakeholders. LEAF will conduct a literature review and an environmental scan, culminating in a report, and will develop public legal education materials addressing key issues that have been identified. The organization will develop and conduct workshops that respond to and challenge the barriers to valuing care work, that provide care workers with legal information in relation to their workplace rights or rights as caregivers, and that touch on avenues for law reform. The developed public legal education materials and workshop will also be distributed and delivered to LEAF’s network of branches, and professional facilitators will train LEAF’s branches as well as community organizations to deliver them to others. In collaboration with stakeholders and the project advisory committee, LEAF will develop law reform advocacy proposals related to the barriers within the care economy identified in the earlier stages of this project. These will be compiled in a formal report and distributed to the organization’s broader network and branches, as the Advocacy Manager is trained in how to build an effective advocacy campaign and begins mobilization. LEAF, in coalition with stakeholders and a network of care economy organizations, will engage in advocacy based on the proposals compiled into the formal report and will set advocacy goals. LEAF will develop an informal coalition to continue advocacy beyond project conclusion. An external evaluator will measure and assess the impact of the systemic change project.