Since 2006, RFF has focused its Environment program almost exclusively on climate change. Our program emphasizes public education on the risks of global warming and implementation of sound solutions. RFF is interested in the development of initiatives designed to enact aggressive policies at the state and national levels to reduce carbon emissions; disrupt the life cycle of fossil fuels from drilling and mining to transportation and exporting; bring diverse and compelling new voices into the climate debate; and examine how special interests are distorting science and delaying constructive steps to deal with this impending global crisis.
The Democracy program (formerly called the Institutional Accountability and Individual Liberty program) encourages the active participation of citizens in government, seeks to make government and private institutions more accountable and responsive, and supports efforts to ensure that individuals’ rights and liberties under the Constitution are protected. Past grants have included support for work to overcome roadblocks to registration and voting; efforts to expand access to government information; advocacy to promote electronic disclosure of campaign contributions; and a broad range of program initiatives aimed at holding government agencies and public officials accountable for their actions.
The Rockefeller Family Fund’s program for women’s economic justice seeks to improve the quality of life for working women and their families in two ways: (1) by advancing economic policy solutions that have tangible impacts on women and their families’ lives, and (2) by engaging a diverse, multiracial coalition of women to advocate for these policy solutions, building women’s power and advancing the national narrative around economic equity.
Since 2008, RFF has worked to educate the public about economic inequality and its detrimental effect on the economic growth of the country, as well as the prosperity of families. RFF has supported public education campaigns on a suite of economic reforms that are central to achieve a family friendly economy – policies like paid leave, affordable childcare and quality long-term care. For example, when RFF began investing in this work in 2008, there were only two paid sick days laws on the books—and now there are 14 states, including DC, and more than 35 cities across the country with a paid sick days law, covering more than 15 million people. RFF has also launched and supported successful campaigns for paid family and medical leave.