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Dear Friends and Allies,
Care takes a community. And our community — all of you — have been showing up tirelessly over the last few months to demand what we need so that our communities can care for one another. From the streets of DC, to a virtual roundtable in Michigan, the Caring Majority has rallied to insist that Congress pass $400 billion to make our care infrastructure (which is real infrastructure!) work for all of us. Read on to find out what else we have on deck this month to ensure that care is a priority issue.
- Antonia, and all of us at Caring Across
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A Big Announcement
We are thrilled to announce Caring Across is among the proud recipients of a $10 million Equality Can’t Wait grant with our partners at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Women’s Law Center, The Arc, MomsRising Education Fund, and Family Values @ Work!
This anchor investment in building women’s equality by strengthening the care infrastructure will allow us to continue transforming attitudes around caregiving, which are heavily influenced by gender and racial biases. It means we can scale up our existing work to reach more family caregivers, push for an even bolder care infrastructure, and work toward major investments at the state level that will pave the way to federal wins!
$10 million over five years is a very healthy down payment on a longer range investment to build a pathway for supports and services that uplift us all. It will need to be supplemented over time by the loyal support of our closest friends and allies, joining together to capitalize on this moment and invest in creating lasting change.
Learn more about what Equality Can’t Wait means at Caring Across and check out more press coverage here. Better yet, become a supporter of #EqualityCantWait and make a gift today!
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It Takes a Community
On July 13, the #CareCantWait coalition took to the streets of DC to make our voices heard and tell Congress that we must invest in caregiving and the people who do this essential work. The march culminated at Freedom Plaza, where speakers, including our own Care Fellow Allen Galeon, as well as Reverend Dr. William Barber, Dawn Hucklebridge, and many others spoke about why supporting care and the people who do it is so important to building a truly equitable nation.
The day of action culminated in a ribbon cutting of Paola Mendoza’s Communities of Care Exhibit, featuring stories and beautiful photographs of care pairs, talking about their unique bonds and how caregiving fosters safety, independence, and helps build communities. Missed the exhibit? Don’t worry! You can click through all of the stories and pictures here.
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Care Roundtables
Throughout the Congressional August recess, we will be hosting roundtables in key states, bringing together care advocates and policymakers to drive home the importance of care infrastructure in Biden’s Build Back Better Plan.
On Wednesday, we hosted our first roundtable in Michigan in partnership with The Arc, Common Defense, Community Catalyst, Mothering Justice, and the National Domestic Workers Alliance. We heard from Elizabeth Martin, an artist, small business owner and active community member with a disability, and her sister Angela, her caregiver, who said, “Elizabeth has a vision of living in the community near her family and friends, in her home, and home and community-based services (HCBS) are really critical to ensuring that vision.”
Make sure you are following us on social media, like our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to hear about the next roundtables!
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On The Hill
In June, our partners at National Domestic Workers Alliance and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) supported the release of the Better Care Better Jobs Act, which would provide historic investment in the care economy. The legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) offers a blueprint for how the $400 billion federal investment in Medicaid HCBS can help seniors and people with disabilities access services, while strengthening the essential care workforce.
Additionally, our Co-Founder and Executive Director Ai-jen Poo participated in a care and care infrastructure briefing on Capitol Hill last month. Ai-jen spoke of her own family’s personal experiences with care, provided testimony on why robust investments in Medicaid HCBS will help the workforce - primarily Black and immigrant women who have been unsupported for decades. She also explained why the Better Care Better Jobs Act would benefit care consumers and unpaid family caregivers, making the case that investing in care can boost our nation’s economic recovery.
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Universal Family Care Pilot Program
Our advocacy team has been working closely with California care activists and national researchers to launch a Universal Family Care (UFC) pilot program in California! The program will launch in three cities - San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Right now we're in the research phase with our partners at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, but you'll hear more about this in the coming months!
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Family Meetings
This summer we’re putting the spotlight on families like ours to show Congress how real, bold investment in care could transform our lives. So far, we’ve called six Family Meetings and counting! In the series, members of Congress like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Rosa Delauro, and Sen. Maggie Hassan, as well as celebrities and influencers, sit down with family caregivers, care workers, small business owners, and care consumers to talk about how President Biden’s proposed $400 billion investment in care infrastructure, including HCBS, could transform our families and communities.
Watch the episodes here!
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New Partnerships
- Through September 30, Caring Across will be featured on the Thinx website as the chosen nonprofit for add-on donations to any purchase of the company’s underwear products. This collaboration is the first of its kind for our campaign, and we're delighted to be partnering with a vendor whose mission and values align so closely with our own. Look out for a special interview between the Caring Across and Thinx teams on the intersectionality of our vision and work coming in August!
- Last week, our Culture Change Director Ishita Srivastavajoined a panel on the documentary film Fast Forward, which gives viewers an inside look on what it really means to age by following participants as they try on “age empathy suits”. To see how the film connects with issues facing our nation’s growing population of millennial caregivers, check out the panel discussion here.
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ICYMI: In the News
Our Care Fellow John Adeniran spoke to NBC News on why we need public funding for HCBS. Says John, “Home and community-based services are exceptionally hard to access even if you qualify.” He notes that lawmakers need to expand funding to meet growing demand.
In June, our Constituency Organizer Aisha Adkins spoke with host Ken Stern of the When I’m 64 podcast from the Stanford Longevity Center. They discussed why stronger care policies are so essential for caregivers like Aisha and the people she works with every day.
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Our Team is Growing
Since we last wrote to you, we’ve added a number of awesome new members to our team! Watch our social media to get to know them a little more — but in the meantime, here are some quick intros (and some favorite books!) — feel free to join us in saying hi and welcome.
- Alexandra Villegas, our new California organizer, loves all about love by bell hooks.
- Diann Rust-Tierney, our new Director of Advocacy, is a big fan of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- Yeen Dolma Lama, our new Senior Research Manager, recommends you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
- Shante’ Wolfe, our new Campaigns Director, loves We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union.
- Matthew Cain, our new Senior Digital Content Manager loves 19th Century history, especially Destiny of the Republic, a biography of James Garfield, by Candice Millard.
- And Mollie Katz, our Interim Communications Director while Janet Kim, who would often send these newsletters, is out on parental leave 🐣 Her favorite book is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
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