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Press Release: St. Louis Home Care Workers to Unite with Caring Across Generations at First-Ever Home Care Workers Rising Summit at Renaissance Hotel

FROM:                     Caring Across Generations
CONTACT:              Ross Adair, ross.adair@berlinrosen.com646-517-1810
Media Advisory
St. Louis Home Care Workers to Unite with Caring Across Generations at First-Ever Home Care Workers Rising Summit at Renaissance Hotel
 
St. Louis Care Workers join Caring Across Generations, National Labor Organizations to Tackle 21st Challenges and Opportunities in the Home Care Industry
(ST. LOUIS) – In partnership with local and national labor unions, St. Louis home care workers will join Caring Across Generations in holding the first-ever Home Care Workers Rising Summit at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand on 800 Washington Avenue in St. Louis, beginning on Monday, October 6th at 9:00am CT and ending Tuesday, October 7th at 3:00pm.
 
The St. Louis workers join hundreds of home care workers from all over the U.S. traveling across the country for this event to build Caring Across Generations’ movement for quality care, quality jobs, and care worker’s rights to dignity and independence. The first of its kind, the Home Care Workers Rising Summit is a coming out moment for these workers, who don’t share a workplace but are of the same workforce. The care economy has been mostly invisible and dispersed.
The summit will feature opening remarks from Caring Across Generations co-director and 2014 MacArthur Fellow Ai-jen Poo, followed by innovative training and strategy sessions to build solidarity among home care workers, teach organizing techniques, and build coalitions to address 21st century home care challenges.
 
The below caregiving champions from the St. Louis area are among many who will share their stories for the first time with a national audience:
·       Karen Harlan of Moberly, MO, a 15-year veteran of the home-care industry and leader on the contract bargaining team of the Missouri Home Care Union. Karen is committed to her clients and to improving home care by winning a greater voice for all attendants.
·       Michael Richards, a recipient of Karen Harlan’s care and a client in Missouri’s Consumer Directed Services program. Through the help of Karen, Michael is now active in his church and in the community of Moberly, and a Cub Scout den leader. Michael is also a steadfast advocate  for the rights of home care workers, recently testifying before
The Missouri State Legislature on improved pay and benefits for home care workers.

WHEN:                    Monday, October 6th, 2014.
Tuesday, October 7th, 2014

TIME:                       9:00am to 3:00pm, both days (full agenda below)
WHERE:                  Renaissance St. Louis Grand
800 Washington Avenue
St Louis, MO 63101
 
WHO:                    Ai-jen Poo, Co-Director, Caring Across Generations
Sarita Gupta, Co-Director, Caring Across Generations
Home Care Workers from across the Country
Service Employees International Union (SEIU);
The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA)
Jobs with Justice (JWJ)
The American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME);
Hand in Hand and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ).

INTERVIEWS:       To schedule an interview with Karen or Michael, contact Ross Adair, ross.adair@berlinrosen.com(646) 517-1810
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Home Care Workers Rising Full Agenda
Monday, October 6, 2014
8:00am – 8:45 am                            
Registration                                                
room: Landmark Prefunction 
 
9:00am – 10:30am                       
Morning Plenary                       
room: Landmark Ballroom
From Invisible to Invincible
Ai Jen Poo, Executive Director, NDWA and Co-Director, Caring Across Generations
We will begin our summit with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities ahead in organizing, the significance of the care sector in the U.S. economy, changes in the industry and our workforce and why it’s so important that we work together as a movement.
10:45am- 12:15pm                       
Care Worker Storytellers Training
room: Landmark Ball Room
Our stories and the ways in which we share them are one of our most powerful tools as we advance a movement for justice and dignity in the workplace.  In this training we will spend time learning storytelling techniques and practicing how to use and share our lived experiences to build power.
12:30pm- 1:20pm                        
Lunch                         
room: Majestic D
1:30pm – 2:30pm                        
Afternoon  Plenary            
room: Landmark Ballroom                                           
                                                            
Innovative Organizing Models for Care Workers
The home care workforce is growing in rapidly changing industry. The organizing techniques
that we use must also change  to guarantee that the future of the industry
changes for the greater good.  On this panel, leaders from different parts of our movement will share the new and creative strategies they’ve developed to help build a scale, power and a sustainable base of home care workers and allies in their area.
2:45pm-4:15pm
Workshops:

 

·       Fight for $15/ Raise Up: Participatory workshop to understand the campaign to end caregiver poverty. Room: Majestic G

·      Building Coalition with People with Disabilities Learn best practices for working with people with disabilities, and in building effective alliances with disability communities – finding common ground & moving through challenges. Room: Majestic A

·       Workforce Development Workers and consumers coming together to develop various models of training and job creation that improves the quality of care and access to it. Room: Landmark 7

·       Holding Feet to the Fire Political Accountability & Direct Action – how to leverage & grassroots power tactics.  Room: Majestic B

·       Care for the Caregiver: Mindfulness training & self-care for caregivers. Room: Majestic F

·       Care Canvass: Skill sharing and training on how to engage your community around issues of care and begin building a base of caring voters both in-person on Oct 18th and online. Room: Landmark 5

 

·       Worker to Worker outreach Learn from practical examples of outreach to home care workers and leadership structures that sustain membership.  Room: Majestic C

4:30pm- 5:30pm                        
Campaigns Plenary                       
room: Landmark Ballroom

Care workers Shaping the Future!
Right now we have some really exciting campaigns that are changing the way our society values care workers.  Leaders from our movement will share the ways in which they see their campaigns are shaping the future of this care industry and conditions for workers.
5:30pm -6:45p                        
Action Sign Making                        
room: Landmark Ballroom
7:00pm – 9:30pm                        
Caregiver Awards Dinner
room: Majestic D
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
 
8:00am-9:00am                 
Breakfast                                                   
room: Crystal Ballroom
9:00am-11:00pm                
Action!                                                                                   
room: Crystal Ballroom
11:45 am-12:15 pm
Lunch                                                                                     
room: Crystal Ballroom
12:30pm – 3:00pm                        
Closing Plenary                       
room: Crystal Ballroom
 
Stronger Together!
As we move forward with our own campaigns and organizing, so must we find avenues
for collaboration, coordination to build power as a united workforce.  In this final
plenary, we will discuss the ways in which we can take what we’ve learned in this
summit and share it with our colleagues and community so that together we can build a
stronger movement.
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About the Home Care Workers Rising Summit
The first of its kind, the Home Care Workers Rising Summit is a coming out moment for home care workers, who don’t share a workplace but are of the same workforce. The care economy has been mostly invisible and dispersed. The summit will feature opening remarks from Caring Across Generations co-director Ai-jen Poo, followed by innovative training and strategy sessions to build solidarity among home care workers, teach organizing techniques, and build coalitions to address 21st century home care challenges.