On Sunday, June 3, more than 500 New Yorkers met to build support for a national campaign to improve conditions for home care workers and ensure the quality, affordability and availability of home care for elderly and disabled Americans.
As part of our work on this campaign, Bend the Arc is organizing support in the Jewish community, which has a big stake both because we have a larger proportion of aging family members than the general population and because we have a strong ethical interest in ensuring that workers are treated fairly.
At this “Care Congress,” seniors, care givers, people with disabilities and elected officials shared their experiences, discussed policy solutions, and heard from speakers including playwright Sarah Jones, human rights and trade union activist Inez McCormick, Ai-Jen Poo of National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Bend the Arc’s Alan van Capelle.
The caregivers who allow our most vulnerable family members to live with dignity deserve to live with dignity as well.
We are going to make this an issue for folks running for Congress this year.
On May 10 U.S. Senator Tom Harken submitted a resolution supporting the goals of the Caring across Generations Campaign and federal legislation is currently being drafted. The New York Care Congress is one of several town hall-style events happening throughout the country to build support for the national Caring Across Generations campaign.
Bend the Arc is proud to have collaborated in organizing the New York Care Congress with Align:The Alliance for a Greater New York, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Domestic Workers United.