The National Organization for Women better known as NOW was organized in 1966 and supports women in general across many different fronts including reproductive rights, economics, sexual discrimination, lesbian rights, diversity and ending violence against women. The website is geared towards those who believe direct action is the best course on many different issues concerning women's rights although it is not specifically geared toward families. Everything shown on the site would indicate that it is intended for the general public with direct action available at almost every click. It would appear to have a certain political appeal at first glance but further inspection reveals that it is true to character and every item is truly a women's issue and by extension a family issue. The credibility of this particular web site is unquestionably solid and in fact is renowned for its parent organization's ability to achieve progress on women's issues. There are of course detractors of the type of equality that this site promotes but even the detractors don't question the site or parent organization's credibility though they might question their politics. It is well know that this group has been at the forefront of legislation to protect the rights of women and has a long string of impressive victories to its credit including EEOC, ERA, Row V Wade, women's studies courses, Title IX, FMLA, VAWA and a whole slew of more minor but equally important successes in both passing legislation and protecting that legislation when it invariably came under attack. Predominantly what I learned from this site was that change comes slowly but inexorably and sometimes we even slip backwards and have to regain lost ground. In particular check out the history of NOW under the "about" tab and read through their remarkable history, it's truly overwhelming for anyone who believes in activism. But it should also fill one with a spirit of hope and a recognition that with persev

The Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University researches military families for military families. Founded in 2000 by the Office of military Community and the Family Policy in the Dept of Defense. In 2007 MFRI received funding from a Lilliy Endowment grant, the organizations has grown to include the "development and delivery of outreach activities for the military" they also work with civilian organizations that support military families. The MFRI is guided by the belief that researchers and practitioners should work in together to improve outcomes. The web site is primarily directed towards military leadership and civilian professionals who work with military personnel and of course to the military personnel themselves. There are resources available on the site but the raw research data is not presented. A great deal of resource is spent on how families cope with extended and or repeated deployments that separate families for extended time periods. Credibility is aided by the easily recognizable and highly respected partners and grant providers such as the Lilly Endowment, the Dept. of Defense, Zero To Three and the Sesame Workshop. There seems to be no built in bias other than that of being military centric which is plainly stated and there are no advertisements found on the site other than those that support their mission statement. I learned that whatever problems civilians have with work-family, military personnel have those same issues and added to that they must find ways to cope with being away from their children for extended time periods. Worse yet is the idea that being a single parent is not an justification for not being deployed so in the worst case you may have your children looked after by strangers for up to six months at a time, at which time you may have only two weeks leave to spend with your children before being shipped out again. One can only imagine the types of recurrent support that would be required over a career.