National Family Week, 2000

Proclamation 7380 of November 17, 2000

National Family Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Our families are perhaps the strongest influence in our
lives. Anyone who grows up in a strong, nurturing
family, grounded in the values of love and
responsibility, will have a distinct advantage in
achieving the most important tasks of adulthood--living
fully, working productively, contributing to society,
and forming one's own strong, stable family.

Our Nation, too, draws its strength and character from
America's families, so as citizens we must do
everything we can to support their well-being and self-
sufficiency. Over the past 8 years, my Administration
has strived to create an economic and social climate
where families can flourish. We have strengthened the
economy; enacted a higher minimum wage; expanded tax
credits for working families; created greater access to
higher education, quality health care, and affordable
child care; and, with passage of the Family and Medical
Leave Act, made it easier for working adults to take
leave to care for an ailing family member without
putting their jobs at risk. We have also been
successful in moving thousands of children from
temporary homes in foster care to permanent families
where they can grow and flourish.

We are fortunate to be members of a larger family as
well, composed not only of our immediate relatives, but
also of our neighbors, colleagues, communities, and
fellow citizens. As members of this extended family, we
must learn to appreciate the value and diversity of
other families' traditions; we must reach out to help
those families who are still in need; and we must share
responsibility for the care and development of all our
Nation's children. In this season of Thanksgiving, let
us be grateful for the knowledge that America is a
Nation of families, standing together to make our
country a better place in which to live and to make the
future a brighter one for our children.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim November 19 through
November 25, 2000, as National Family Week. I call upon
Federal, State, and local officials to honor American
families with appropriate programs and activities. I
encourage educators, community organizations, and
religious leaders to celebrate the strength and values
we draw from family relationships, and I urge all the
people of the United States to reaffirm their own
family ties and to reach out to other families in
friendship and goodwill.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
two thousand, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.