Caring Across Generations: A Movement for Everyone, Especially Women

There was no doubt that a movement, not just a campaign, was launched on July 12 at the first-ever national CARE Congress, an event spearheaded by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Jobs with Justice. [Watch the video.] Over 700 people from diverse sectors nationwide -- unions, domestic worker, disability and immigrant rights groups, faith-based and women's organizations -- gathered in Washington, DC to kick off Caring Across Generations, a movement to ensure access to quality in-home care for the elderly, people with disabilities and others in need, and to ensure dignity and well-being for workers who deliver this critical support. Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis offered resounding endorsements and shared how the need for quality care and quality care jobs had touched their lives. In fact, everyone was encouraged to share their stories, unearthing that we all have someone we love who needs or will need care, and underscoring how access to care is inherently linked to securing rights and respect for those who provide it.

[Watch these wonderfully moving stories about how people of all walks of life share a common vision for long-term care.]

Caring Across Generations will be successful in large part because so many Americans -- no matter their political stripe, citizenship status, race, class, age or ability -- can relate to the fundamental issues it addresses, especially as the Baby Boomer generation ages (beginning this year, someone turns 65 every eight seconds [pdf]) and the demand for in-home, long-term care exponentially grows. We all want to make sure our aging or unwell parents or grandparents are given the care they deserve, that our community members with varying ability can live productive, happy lives in their homes rather than institutions. And we want the option of being able to provide this care ourselves with the support of policies like paid family leave without destroying our finances or losing our jobs.

And while everyone can -- and should -- get on board for improved access to quality "direct care," as it is known in the industry, women have an especially critical stake, and role to play, in the movement's success. Because at the core of this and related advocacy like domestic workers' rights and affordable, quality child care campaigns, is a longstanding call to assign greater value to what's traditionally been considered "women's work." And in assigning it greater value, we can bolster support for everyone who assumes paid or unpaid caregiving roles. We can lift the burden from individuals' shoulders -- across gender -- who struggle in isolation to meet their families' needs, we can guarantee living wages and basic labor protections for the mostly women workers who deliver this indispensable care, and we can ensure collective responsibility for protecting what we have -- like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security which provide a lifeline to care for so many already -- and creating what we need, including millions of new jobs in a time of economic crisis and a path to citizenship for the immigrant women of color domestic workforce.

At the forefront of this movement are women who know just how transformative the reframing of caregiving and "women's work" could be, and understand that if you secure the rights and well-being of those most affected by injustice -- care workers, and care recipients and families among them -- we will all be better off. We, for the sake of rights and well-being of all women, all families, and our entire nation, should join them.

Watch Care Congress Live Stream Tuesday Morning

If you will not be in Washington, DC tomorrow, join Ms. Foundation grantees the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Jobs With Justice at a live stream of the first Care Congress. The program will run from 9:45am to 1:00pm EDT. Watch as more than 600 people work to transform long-term care in the United States for our loved ones, the workers who provide the care, and the families who struggle to access and afford that care.

Follow the Care Congress on Twitter. Join the National Domestic Workers Alliance at @CaringAcrossGen and use the hashtag #carexgens.

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July 12 in Washington, DC: Help Ensure Quality Care Across Generations

Every 8 seconds, an American turns 65. As more and more members of our communities age, they will need care, just as more and more workers will need quality, dignified jobs.

Please join Ms. Foundation grantees the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Jobs With Justice as they aim to transform long-term care in the United States for our loved ones, the workers who provide the care, and the families who struggle to access and afford that care.  

Join the movement at the first Care Congress and the public launch of the Caring Across Generations campaign in Washington, DC on July 12.

Register for the Care Congress before June 20 and help make sure all families have access to affordable, quality and dignified care.

What: Care Congress
When: July 12, 2011 - 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Where: The Washington Hilton - 1919 Connecticut Ave NW
Who: Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and 700 others who care

Help shape this effort! Please register for the Care Congress before June 20. Additional information is available from the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

[VIDEO] Voices From the Field: Jobs with Justice Talks Organizing, Immigration in KY

Since the 112th Congress convened in January, progressives have watched as the issues we care deeply about -- health care reform, immigrants' rights, reproductive justice, and workers' rights -- have come under attack from the new majority in the House, and in many statehouses across the country. This new reality leaves many of us profoundly concerned for our collective future, and wondering: what can be done to protect and promote social justice in an increasingly conservative environment? What strategies can social justice organizations best use to beat back the rising conservative tide?

To being to answer these questions, in early 2011 the Ms. Foundation brought together two grantees, Sarita Gupta of our National Jobs with Justice and Attica Woodson Scott of Kentucky Jobs with Justice, for a conversation about the future of progressive organizing. Their wide-ranging discussion addressed how the more conservative political landscape was affecting their own organizing -- as well as how it it affects the lives of the women, workers and families they represent.

We were pleased to be able to provide a special opportunity for Sarita and Attica -- who, because of their lives as organizers, rarely have time to connect at length -- to come together for an extended conversation in this way. And the powerful ideas that their dialogue produced underscore just how important it is that we connect the wisdom and power of both grassroots and national organizing in advocacy for social change.

In this first in a series of excerpts from their conversation, Sarita and Attica discuss KJwJ's recent victory in defeating harsh anti-immigrant legislation in the Bluegrass State -- and how legislating hate harms us all.

TANF Extended -- Minus Crucial Emergency Funding

Time to share a little "good news/bad news" on the TANF front.

For the good: Just before departing for Thanksgiving recess, the Senate voted to extend TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funding through September 30, 2011, circumventing what would have been certain disaster for our nation's neediest if the program had been allowed to expire in December, as the bill originally stipulated. According to Ms Foundation grantee the National Women's Law Center, the House will now take up -- and likely pass -- the full bill at some point in the coming days, marking a major win for families in need nationwide.

But there's significant bad news to report as well...

Read more »

Grantee Groups Join to Fight for Workers' Rights

A remarkable group of Ms. Foundation grantees has come together to fight for the rights of excluded workers -- and strengthen the US labor movement in the process.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Day Laborers’ Organizing Network and Jobs with Justice -- all Ms. Foundation grantees -- together with the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity, are uniting to "dramatically expand workers' rights to organize" across the US. Last week in Washington D.C., they brought together representatives from nine different employment sectors to outline plans for collaboration, form alliances and identify concrete measures to improve the ability of workers to unionize in all 50 states.

Read more »

Take Action: Join Jobs with Justice to End Unemployment Crisis

Ms. Foundation grantee Jobs with Justice is calling on the government to end the national crisis of joblessness: On Wednesday, September 15, they're holding a Jobs Emergency National Day of Action with events in 30 cities nationwide, demanding that members of Congress (and their corporate backers) explain how they plan to fill the jobs gap and "put America back to work."

With more than 15 million Americans currently unemployed, it's time to declare a "state of emergency" on our national jobs situation, says Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, a national network of labor, community, student and faith organizations working to build a broader global movement for economic and social justice. As part of the day of action, JwJ is demanding:

• Full and Fair Employment. Congress must recognize the jobs emergency and pass legislation like the Local Jobs for America Act; extend the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families emergency fund jobs subsidies program; extend unemployment insurance; heed President Obama’s call to renew the countries’ infrastructure and create a national infrastructure bank; and pass other bills that will create jobs, protect public services, and help get our economy going again.
  
• Financial Sector Accountability. Wall Street must pay their fair share for the crisis they created. A tax on financial speculation could raise $200-$500 billion every year.

Join Jobs with Justice and their allies as they stand up for a recovery that puts everyday Americans back to work. Find an action taking place in a city near you, and read Sarita Gupta's recent commentary on the jobless crisis, which ran on Common Dreams.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Rappaport

Jobs with Justice Links Community-Based Organizing and National Unions to Fight for Worker Rights

Jobs with Justice, a Ms. Foundation grantee partner, has been coordinating with the AFL-CIO and United Steelworkers in a major campaign to organize Los Angeles carwash workers.

"The campaign is seen as a national model of organizing low-wage workers with community support" said Jonathan P. Hiatt, chief of staff to the president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation.

Last week, Jobs for Justice held its first National Workers' Rights Board Hearing of the New Year. "We were able to support the CLEAN Carwash Campaign in their efforts to win justice and dignity for carwash workers in Los Angeles," said Chelsea Carr, associate director of development.

The Jobs with Justice blog and the Los Angeles Times blog reported on the meeting.