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Media advisory

Lawmakers, Caregivers and Community Advocates to Join Opening Reception for Art Exhibit Marking 30th Anniversary of Family and Medical Leave Act

February 27, 2023
Workplace Justice, Paid Family & Medical Leave

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

New Art Exhibit Features Portraits of North Carolinians Who Have Struggled Without Paid Leave

Three decades after the Family and Medical Leave Act became law, giving about three in five U.S. workers access to unpaid leave, the U.S. remains one of the only industrialized nations in the world without a national paid leave policy. 

To mark #FMLA30 and highlight the urgent need to invest in paid leave, the North Carolina Families Care Coalition and the national Paid Leave for All campaign will hold an opening reception for a new photo exhibit featuring North Carolinians who have needed time away from work to care for an aging or sick parent, welcome a newborn baby, or recover from their own serious illness. 

The reception is open to the media. It will include remarks from community members featured in the exhibit and from lawmakers and advocates working to win paid leave for all. The exhibit will be open to the public through March 2023.

About the exhibit: #FMLA30 features six large-format works created using a unique photo transfer process by Raleigh artist Tim Lytvinenko. Each work is accompanied by a scannable QR code allowing viewers to listen to the subject’s personal story. 

What: #FMLA30 Exhibit Opening and Reception, featuring works by Tim Lytvinenko

When: Tuesday, February 28th, 5 – 7 PM

Where: Artspace, 201 E. Davie St., Raleigh, NC 

Who: North Carolina Families Care Coalition in partnership with the national Paid Leave for All campaign, with remarks from:

  • NC Rep. Ashton Wheeler Clemmons

  • Sam Stites, Sadiee McNeil, and David McNeil, community members and caregivers

  • Ana Pardo of the NC Justice Center

  • Beth Messersmith of MomsRising

To RSVP: Please complete the form here

Please contact Ana Pardo of the NC Justice Center or Beth Messersmith of MomsRising with any questions. 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.