SiX Holds Innovations Accelerator Conference in Denver

By: Ida Eskamani, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs

We just held our second-ever Innovations Accelerator Conference, bringing together over 150 legislators and movement partners from 29 states to strategize on our work to advance tax justice, gender justice, paid family and medical leave, and taking on corporate monopolies. 

SiX joins with movement partners and Legislators at the 2023 Accelerator Conference in Denver. 

We are incredibly proud of the diverse states we convened on various issue-specific tracks, from Alaska to Florida and everywhere in between.  

Here are a few highlights from the conference:

• Tax Justice: Organized in partnership with the State Revenue Alliance, we brought together legislators and organizing partners from across 14 states (CA, CO, CT, HI, IL, ME, MD, MN, NV, NJ, NY, OR, VA, WA) to coordinate on shaping the national narrative around government, wealth taxes, and public investment. 

• Gender Justice: Organized in partnership with the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), we officially launched the State Gender Policy Collective – a joint project between SiX and NWLC that will resource and harness the collective power of state lawmakers and leaders to advance gender justice wins across all states. We brought together legislators and partners across 17 states (AL, AZ, CO, CT, FL, IL, MD, MI, MN, MS, MO, NY, NC, OH, RI, UT, WA) to strategize around the infrastructure that is needed to advance this work. 

• Paid Family and Medical Leave: We partnered with organizations such as A Better Balance, New America, and 9to5 Colorado, and united legislators and partners from across 11 states (CO, GA, IL, ME, MI, MN, NV, NM, NY, PA, VT) to continue building our coordinated group of legislators leading a national movement around paid family and medical leave. 

• Anti-Monopoly: We also gathered legislators and partners from across 16 states (AK, CA, FL, GA, IL, ME, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NV, NY, NC, OH, PA) and DC to learn about the far-reaching impacts of corporate monopolies on workers, consumers, and local businesses, and how we can build an economy that works for us all. At the convening, we launched a sign-on letter rallying legislators behind the federal government's draft corporate merger guidelines. 

We are grateful to the state and national organizations we collaborated with to organize the conference – including the Progressive Governance Academy. We could not have done this work without our sponsors: the Economic Security Project, National Women’s Law Center, Women’s Democracy Lab, and State Revenue Alliance. 

As we continue building momentum from this conference, we invite you to explore our latest publication, “States Leading on Leave: A Playbook on Winning Paid Family and Medical Leave," released in partnership with A Better Balance and New America. Based on lessons learned from state lawmakers and advocates, the playbook outlines strategies around expanding paid family and medical leave (PFML) laws in state legislatures nationwide. It provides guidance for coalition building and management, campaign strategy, policy design, and planning for successful implementation, drawn from SiX’s experts and interviews with state legislators and advocates who have recently won PFML enactment in DE, ME, MD, MN, and OR. 

Check out the playbook at: https://stateinnovation.org/pfml.