Ellen Bravo

Overview

Ellen Bravo directs the Family Values Work (FVW) Consortium a network of broad coalitions working forand winningpolicies such as paid sick days and family leave insurance. The FVW network has expanded to 25 states and achieved unprecedented victories such as paid sick days in five states one county and 31 cities family leave insurance in California New Jersey Rhode Island and New York and paid parental leave passed in Washington state. More wins are on the horizon.A lifelong activist and leading expert on work family issues Ellen worked with 9to5 for more than two decades serving as national director until 2004 before founding FVW. In 1982 she started the Milwaukee chapter which helped win the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act in 1988 after organizing a group of children to tell lawmakers why their parents needed this protection. The organization also helped win family leave in a number of states and spur passage of the groundbreaking federal FMLA.Ellen has served on several state and federal commissions including the national bi partisan Commission on Leave to study the impact of the FMLA and has testified before Congress several times. She s a member of the leadership team of Caring Across Generations and Make It Work and sits on the boards of Working America and the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Among her many commendations Ellen has received the Ford Foundation s Visionary Award the Francis Perkins Intelligence and Courage Award a Families and Work Institute Work Life Legacy Award and a Trailblazer award from the Ms. Foundation.Described as moving witty and sometimes bawdy Ellen is a leading commentator in the media appearing on MSNBC Fox News and NPR among others. Her writing is regularly featured in such outlets as The New York Times CNN The Nation Salon The Huffington Post Ms. and other sites. She has taught Women s Studies at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and her most recent non fiction book Taking on the Big Boys or Why Feminism is Good for Families Business and the Nation won ForeWord Magazine s Gold Medal in women s issues and was selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice magazine.Ellen lives in Milwaukee with her husband they have two adult sons. She loves Zumba and Bikram yoga bid whist and piano. Her novel on date rape and politics Again and Again was published in August 2015.