On January 1, 2025, New York became the first state to provide paid prenatal leave for expecting mothers. As a mom and New Yorker, I cheered this groundbreaking policy and the relief it brings to working families who are up against impossible choices everyday. As a lifelong advocate — and the founder and CEO of Moms First, an organization fighting for America’s moms — I know that the work has just begun.
That’s because good policy — while critical — is only the first step. For policy to truly drive impact, we need working families to claim their benefits.
Take paid family leave. New York is one of 13 states in the country to pass paid family leave. Our state is a leader, offering 12 weeks of paid bonding leave for new parents and extending strong job protections for workers to return to their jobs at the conclusion of their leave.
Every day, I hear from parents whose lives have been changed by New York’s paid leave policy. Take Lisa Mayer, founder and CEO of Boss Beauties and new mom. After a normal delivery, her baby ended up in the NICU, while Lisa herself endured a life-threatening hemorrhage. Thankfully, both recovered and are now home together, free to bond without having to choose between time together and a paycheck.
It’s clear that paid leave is transformational. Yet, new research from McKinsey & Company and Moms First reveals just 2 in 5 parents take the state paid parental leave that they’re eligible for. Why? What’s holding them back from the opportunity to put their family first?
According to a survey of more than 2,000 parents, many don’t know about their state’s paid parental leave benefits and — if they do — they need help navigating the application process.
As the Founder of Girls Who Code, I’ve spent a lot of time around emerging technologies, understanding how these advances can benefit the communities who need them most. And this problem — how we bridge the gap between policy and impact and help working families access the benefits they deserve — started to look like a problem that AI could help solve.
In late 2023, Moms First launched PaidLeave.AI as a pilot in New York. Last year, Moms First expanded the tool nationally, and it’s been revolutionary, not only in elevating interest in paid family leave through a 20X increase in Google search traffic but helping tens of thousands of parents understand and access their benefits.
Most importantly, PaidLeave.AI is helping families change their story for the better. It gives parents a lightbulb moment, where they realize they don’t have to make these impossible choices, that support is available.
Remember Lisa? She used PaidLeave.AI to navigate New York’s paid family leave benefits. The tool helped her understand how much money she was entitled to, how many weeks she could take, and it guided her through every step of the application process. PaidLeave.AI even helped her discover she could claim an additional two weeks off due to her high risk pregnancy and birth.
Now, imagine a world where every parent has access to innovation like PaidLeave.AI. This tool exemplifies what it looks like when AI is used for public good, helping working families claim their benefits and helping fulfill the promise of our policies. Paid leave is just the start. We can leverage innovation to increase uptake of the child tax credit, tax benefits like the inflation rebate, or new programs like paid prenatal leave.
I want to live in a country where our most important policies — the ones that uplift working families — are not only accessible, but durable. A place where people proudly claim their benefits and reap their full impact — improving their health, securing their families’ economic futures, and setting up the next generation for success and prosperity. I dream of a country where people fight to protect and expand effective policy, elevating the best ones to the national stage and setting a standard that we all benefit from.
Together — leaders, advocates, and parents — we can begin to build a future where no one has to choose between taking home a paycheck and taking care of their family.
Reshma Saujani is the founder and CEO of Moms First’s and the founder of Girls Who Code.
