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Ai-jen Poo

8 Apr, 9 tweets, 5 min read

@POTUS

Since @POTUS revealed the #AmericanJobsPlan, there’s been discussion about whether or not care is infrastructure.

Infrastructure = basic structure needed for our society & economy to run. Caring for each other has always been the fulcrum of both. [THREAD] 1/9

Care is constant. We all receive care from the moment we’re born to when we die. So of course care is infrastructure...our human infrastructure includes things like schools & the full range of care: the supports & services that allow us to work, grow & thrive.

#CareCantWait 2/9

We need support systems in place to help us live full and dignified lives. Our families & communities are suffering because what exists is fragmented, and care work is undervalued, causing so many people to fall in between the cracks.

caringacross.org/blog-the-care-… 3/9

Why isn’t this considered infrastructure? One of the reasons we haven’t talked about infrastructure like this is because women and people of color have not defined the terms. That is no longer the case. 4/9

@CaringAcrossGen

This idea didn’t come out of nowhere. @CaringAcrossGen & our partners have been on this for years. Last year we defined #CareInfrastructure in a report noting how BIPOC, disabled, &immigrant women's experiences must be central to our economic recovery. 5/9 caringacross.org/carepaper/

That’s why Biden’s $400B investment is historic and unprecedented. Not only will his investments in care infrastructure (childcare, paid leave, & home & community based services for older adults & people with disabilities) create millions of jobs -- this will save lives. 6/9

Care jobs are one of the fastest-growing in the US – 1M new home care jobs will be needed in the next decade alone. By 2050 the # of ppl needing long-term care & personal assistance will grow from 12M to 27M. Investing in care can avert future economic & public health crises! 7/9

And importantly -- this investment is what we want. 3 in 4 voters support care infrastructure in the #AmericansJobsPlan.

People agree #CareCantWait, Congress just has to listen and do their job. 8/9

dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/4/6/…

@VP

If you agree with us - or want to learn more - join us on April 10 for the #CareCantWait summit.

We will be with @VP, @SpeakerPelosi, @SecRaimondo, @AdyBarkan, @Dev_Still71, @AmySchumer and more to lift up our year of resilience, achievement, & care. 9/9 carecantwait.org/?sourceid=1073…

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More from @aijenpoo

Ai-jen Poo

@aijenpoo

21 Jul 20

https://twitter.com/StefFeldman/status/1285574618821033985

Over 20 years working on caregiving solutions & this is the first time a presidential campaign has made investments in the care economy a core strategy in their economic agenda. Not a side issue, an add on, or a special interest. [THREAD]

https://twitter.com/StefFeldman/status/1285574618821033985

Also, the needs of care workers -- the domestic workers, home care, child care workers & educators who support America's working families and their own -- their wages, benefits, training & care are front & center, as they should be.

This workforce has always been vast majority women, disproportionately Black women & immigrant women of color, and have been systematically excluded from the recognition, protections & opportunity they deserve.

Read 7 tweets

Ai-jen Poo

@aijenpoo

29 May 20

@nybooks

As I write in @nybooks, this pandemic has suddenly created mass public awareness about the importance of care work.

We are struggling to take care of our families in new ways, and finally recognizing how crucial caregivers are to our economy & society.

nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/…

Even before the crisis, it was all on the brink of collapse - families were struggling to afford care, while our underpaid care workforce could barely make ends meet. As our population ages and family structures evolve, our reliance on the care economy just continues to increase.

The combination of increased need for care work and the terrible working conditions placed enormous stress on both families and workers. The care economy was a house of cards on the point of collapse. With the pandemic, that collapse has come.

Read 6 tweets

Ai-jen Poo

@aijenpoo

6 Mar 20

@ewarren

Dear @ewarren, when I tell the story of your presidential campaign to all the children in my life (which I will), here's some of what I'll share about why we should all be saying #ThankYouElizabethWarren . . . . (1/8)

You put up front & made visible what women, especially working class women, usually do quietly: we figure out what must be done - no matter how impossible it seems - and figure out a way to do it; we help people see the plan -- the way to make the impossible, possible. (2/8)

You put critically important, yet invisible women--domestic workers--on stage & at the center of your solutions. Your historic speech in GA on Black domestic workers & their courageous organizing lifted up generations of leadership that our kids deserve to know about (3/8)

Read 8 tweets

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