There's an old saying that goes, 'We make the road by walking.' Today, even in the face of historic opposition to change, there's no question that Barack Obama and the pro-worker members of Congress we elected last November are taking the steps towards real change with working families at their side.

Last November, we made history by electing Barack Obama. Over the past year, the change we've dreamt of for so long is becoming reality. Together, we saved the global economy from depression, made significant investments in green jobs, and have gotten further than at any other point in our history to winning affordable healthcare for all. Clearly, there is much more to be done. Because as we all know, real change is never achieved quickly--or without a fight.

But on this momentous anniversary of Barack's election, we're going on focus on the positive (as in, the glass is half-full instead of half-empty) and run down a laundry list of progress we're proud has been made over the past year:

• Make law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which has been responsible for creating or saving 650,000 jobs;
• Sign into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act;
• Pass a budget that includes a historic commitment to health insurance reform, and work with Congress to ensure that comprehensive reform passes in 2009;
• Appoint cabinet secretaries that working families can count on, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius;
• Provide a pathway to legal status for young people who were brought to the U.S. as undocumented immigrant children through the DREAM Act;
• Pass a sweeping expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program, which provides healthcare coverage to an additional 4 million children of working families;
• Create a Middle Class Task Force and a Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and allow working families representatives like Anna Burger on it;
• Create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, to protect consumers from the unfair practices of our largest financial institutions.

"Along with the policy shifts we are witnessing, there is a change in culture as well," said SEIU President Andy Stern. "When Jordan Barab, the new Assistant Secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, took office, he replaced the conference room photos of OSHA managers with photos of workers who've been killed on the job. How's that for a change in attitude?"

Check out the video our healthcare team put together to celebrate this moment: