In partnership with communities, Partners for Dignity & Rights (formerly the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative) works to build a broad movement for economic and social rights, including health, housing, education and work with dignity. Based on the principle that fundamental human needs create human rights obligations on the part of the government and private sector, Partners for Dignity & Rights advocates for public policies that guarantee the universal and equitable fulfillment of these rights in the United States. Partners for Dignity & Rights was founded in 2004. We emerged in response to growing interest across the United States in applying human rights standards at home. We have sought, from our inception, to create a foundation for integrating economic and social rights into U.S. law, policy and political culture. We believe that social movements led by those directly impacted are the best route towards sustainable and progressive social change. Developing strong social movements depends on a compelling and unifying vision that is shared by the whole movement. The human rights framework can provide this vision because it offers a broad platform for common action, language, and focus, and speaks to a set of universal values.