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Rasoul Introduces Virginia Marshall Plan for Moms
Plan includes a package of policies aimed at getting Virginia moms and families back on their feet including child care for all, paid family and medical leave, and caregiver tax credit. Rasoul will reserve a senior position in the Lieutenant Governor’s office as Director of Mothers Advocacy
On Tuesday, Del. Sam Rasoul (D-11) announced that as Lieutenant Governor he would take bold action to get Virginia moms and families back on their feet with a Virginia Marshall Plan for Moms.
Rasoul’s plan comes as national data shows women, and particularly moms, are bearing the brunt of job losses during the pandemic. In July, almost one in three mothers ages 25 to 44 reported they were not working due to child care related issues. More than four times as many women as men lost their jobs last September, and a Bureau of Labor Statistics report found women accounted for all of the job losses in December 2020, with Black and Latina women being hit the hardest.
Rasoul is committing a senior staff member of his Lieutenant Governor’s office to be a Director of Mothers Advocacy, whose focus will be working with the Governor and General Assembly to enact these policies.
Sam Rasoul, Virginia General Assembly. Courtesy of Sam Rasoul
Following a movement led by mothers and their advocates calling for a National Marshall Plan for Moms, Rasoul is calling for a package of policies aimed at addressing the disproportionate challenges faced by Virginia moms and families, including:
- Child care for all
- Ensuring all workers have paid family and medical leave
- Creating a caregiver income tax credit for $1000 in expenses incurred by an individual caring for a family member
- Expanding access to sick leave
- Increasing the minimum wage
- Instituting fair scheduling to require that businesses have predictable schedules for their employees
- Helping employers support moms through employer incentives for targeted career development that allow moms to make up lost ground
“Even before this pandemic, our economy did not work for families. We cannot accept any longer a status quo where having and raising children is a leading cause of poverty,” said Rasoul. “The way out of this problem, made much worse by the pandemic and economic crisis, is by following the data. And the data says: Invest in moms. Investing in moms is the surest, quickest path to economic recovery, and to creating a stronger, fairer economy than we had before.”
“Families thrive when mothers thrive. All of the data backs this up,” said Roanoke College Professor of History Ivonne Wallace Fuentes. “A Marshall Plan for moms is an opportunity to reimagine what a Virginia that works for mothers, and therefore works for families and works for children, might really look like.”
On Thursday, February 11, the Sam Rasoul for Lieutenant Governor campaign will host a discussion with Virginia moms, moderated by Roanoke College Professor and mother of two, Ivonne Wallace Fuentes, on our Facebook page starting at 7:30 p.m.
Watch the announcement video with Ivonne Wallace Fuentes and Layaly Rasoul.
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
Click here to send Ray Hanania email.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
Click here to send Ray Hanania email.
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