Delaware Cares Coalition

Delaware Cares is a coalition of labor, faith, health, and community advocates and organizations committed to ensuring every Delawarean has access to paid family and medical leave.

Everyone will face a major medical event or emergency at one point in their life. But too many cannot afford to take time off when they need it most.

• In Delaware, almost 60 percent of working people don’t even have access to unpaid leave. The pandemic has only exacerbated the impossible choices between work and family, particularly for women and women of color.
  As a result, thousands of Delawareans are forced to leave the workforce or go without pay when they face a major medical event.
• Paid leave is critical to closing racial gaps in health and wealth. Black women and women of color are more likely to be the breadwinners for their families, so they are more likely to need paid leave – but they’re even less likely to be able to take paid leave under current policy.
• Paid leave will help address the maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately affects Black mothers and other mothers of color and help level the playing field for minority-owned businesses.

We are committed to passing statewide paid family and medical leave

A statewide paid family & medical leave insurance program would provide 12 weeks of paid leave for a covered purpose in a 12 month period, including:

• To address a worker’s own serious health condition
• To care for a family member with a serious health condition
• To bond with a new child (including newborn, foster and adopted children)
• To address the impact of a family member’s military deployment
• To handle legal, medical, and practical matters relating to domestic violence

Email Liz Richards at liz@decares.org or Tyeisha Grier at tgrier@thenetworkde.org to learn more and to learn about other ways to get involved.