Dear Friends and Allies,

There’s been a lot of back and forth on the Hill the last few months, and sometimes the care policies we need can feel like they’re out of reach. But whenever we feel that way, we look to your tireless work and commitment to creating a more caring future, and we’re inspired to keep going.

Read on to find out what’s on deck this month as we continue to push our Senators to pass an economic package with major investments in expanding access to services and paying providers and care workers a wage they can thrive on.

- Antonia and all of us at Caring Across

Carnations for Care

Between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day this year, the Care Can’t Wait coalition is celebrating caregivers with #CarnationsforCare, to remind Congress and the general public of the essential work that family caregivers do every day.

Why “Carnations for Care”? Carnations are often thought of as throwaway flowers, even though they provide the foundation of the most beautiful bouquets. In the same way, caregivers and direct care workers are often undervalued, but they serve as the backbone of our nation.

To kick off the campaign in the states, on May 7th, we partnered with The Arc Georgia to host a booth at the Sweet Auburn Springfest, which honors Atlanta’s historic Sweet Auburn district as the home of the original Civil Rights Movement. We offered free professional photos by Atlanta’s own Angela Hill to capture moments of joy, while seeding connections with local family caregivers, people with disabilities, and older adults, and making sure they all had a plan to vote. As we work on building trust in the state, we will continue to show up in and for the predominantly Black and brown communities most impacted by this country’s failed care infrastructure.

And online, we took part in a Mother’s Day MOMibuster, hosted by MomsRising, to demand affordable child care, free pre-K, paid family and medical leave, home- and community-based services, permanent monthly Child Tax Credit payments, and quality maternal health care for all.

Plus, our Portraits of Care Campaign is launching across eight major cities this week! Throughout the month, we’ve been taking pictures of families across the nation to capture the power of family and highlight the policies we need to care for each other. If you’re in New York City, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Charleston, or Atlanta, look up and you just might see us!

On The Ground

For Older Americans Month, our Campaigns Director Shanté joined the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans (IARA) and Citizen Action Illinois to host a series of Town Halls with special guests, Representatives Jan Schakowsky and Lauren Underwood, who were both honored with the 2022 IARA Retiree Hero Award. Attendees were fired up to work to advance investment in our nation’s care infrastructure, protect Social Security, and decrease drug costs – issues that we’ll keep centering to build power across our state constituencies.

Our next state event was the Bread and Roses drop in Sacramento, CA, on May 11th, where we joined with activists from the California Work & Family Coalition and Hand in Hand to deliver bread and roses to 51 target state legislators to demand fair wages and dignity for caregiving women of color. We also joined an action with Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) to move money from prison and police budgets into community care programs, advancing our vision for care in the state.

Changing Culture

We’re in Times Square again this week with our new Portraits of Care campaign, but if you missed our last set of billboards a few months back, you can still catch a glimpse of them in our “Person on the Street” videos. Featuring comedian Zach Zimmerman asking passersby what care means to them, these funny and touching videos are sure to make you laugh, think, and ask yourself, “How do you care?”

Stay tuned for an exciting collaboration between our culture change team, our friends at HFC (including Seth and Lauren Miller Rogen), and one of your favorite TV shows. Keep an eye on your inboxes later this week!

ICYMI: In the News and Online:

• Our 2020 Care Fellow, Dr. Connie Kitchens, was featured in the Washington Post and on Good Morning America this weekend, talking about having to return to work from retirement so she can support and care for her grandchildren.
• Ai-jen and Lauren Miller Rogen wrote a touching feature in the Hollywood Reporter, highlighting This is Us and Human Resources for their radical approach to depicting care, end of life planning, and dementia on screen.
• Our Chief of Communications and Culture Change, Ishita, was featured in the Wall Street Journal discussing how younger caregivers are drawn to share their care experiences on Tiktok.

Our Team is Growing

Since we last wrote to you, Vanessa Butterworth has joined our team as our new Senior Digital Director! She’s a long time online and community organizer who’s focused on building and mobilizing our collective power for transformative change. Join us in saying hi and welcome!

And check out Q+A blogs with other new(ish!) members of our team: Ajax Greene, Hank Hedland, Lydia Storie and more on our blog.

Donate to Caring Across through Spiral

We're delighted to announce that Caring Across is now a featured nonprofit on Spiral, a company that helps banking customers donate to nonprofits through its online platform, with an online match program that helps multiply the value of your donation to Caring Across. Visit Spiral’s website to learn more.

New Classes of Care Fellows

Our Care Fellowship is open for applications! Over the last three years, our Fellows have driven change in public policy, shown up in pop culture, and built relationships across the greater caregiving community. Now is your chance to join an outstanding group of caregivers in advocating for change for care – apply here by June 6th!

And shout out to our new California Care Fellow cohort that started last week! These 11 fellows from across the state are already getting started on building their advocacy and experience-sharing muscles, and we can’t wait to share the amazing work they’ll be doing over the next several months!

A Final Note

We want to share the sad news that Julie Beckett, a key figure in the fight for HCBS, passed away on May 13th. Her daughter, Katie Beckett, had been hospitalized since infancy due to paralysis that prevented her from breathing on her own. In 1982, Julie was instrumental in establishing the Katie Beckett Waiver that helped thousands of families secure home care. We honor her memory and legacy as a dedicated mother, caregiver and advocate, as we continue to fight for accessible and affordable home care for all.