Ai-Jen Poo | Activist
“ The twenty-first century way to create social change is to determine where we can create win-win-win situations around our values. These values are simple: ensuring we can take care of ourselves, our families, our communities, and future generations to come.”
Ai-jen Poo is the co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a non-profit organization working to bring quality work, dignity and fairness to the growing numbers of workers who care and clean in our homes, the majority of whom are immigrants and women of color. In 12 short years, with the help of more than 70 local affiliate organizations and chapters and over 200,000 members, the National Domestic Workers Alliance has passed Domestic Worker Bills of Rights in 9 states and the city of Seattle, and brought over 2 million home care workers under minimum wage protections.
Ai-jen believes the future can be glimpsed in the margins of our economy and society -- both the potential threats on the horizon and the solutions. Despite how important the work of caring and cleaning is to millions of American working families, domestic work has always been among the most undervalued and vulnerable jobs in the economy. It has existed outside of existing frameworks for social protection and benefits and yet is increasingly defining of the future of work. As independent and contracted work becomes more the norm, more of the workforce struggles with similar conditions to domestic workers. And, economists widely agree, especially in light of the growing aging population, the demand for care work will only increase in coming years. Already, care work is consistently one of the fastest growing segments of our workforce -- one that won’t be outsourced or automated. The experiences and innovation of domestic workers and the National Domestic Workers Alliance are instructive for shaping a dignified future of work for all.
In 2011, Ai-jen launched Caring Across Generations to unite American families in a campaign to achieve bold solutions to the nation’s crumbling care infrastructure. The campaign has catalyzed groundbreaking policy change in states including the nation’s first family caregiver benefit in Hawaii, and the first long-term care social insurance fund in Washington State. Her widely acclaimed book The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America helps Americans make meaning of the need and opportunity in the elder boom -- to improve access to care for all families while ensuring a strong care workforce for the future. Noted political activist and feminist organizer Gloria Steinem called it “an urgent and irresistible book,” underscoring the overall message of The Age of Dignity: “people getting older is not a crisis, it’s a blessing.”
Ai-jen Poo is also a leading voice in the women’s movement. In 2019 along with Ceclie Richards and Alicia Garza, Ai-jen co-founded SuperMajority, a new home for women's activism, training and mobilizing a multiracial, intergenerational community who will fight for gender equity together. Ai-jen serves as a Senior Advisor to Care in Action, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group dedicated to fighting for a civic voice for millions of women of color, particularly domestic workers in the United States.
Excerpt from/ Read More : NATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS ALLIANCE
Art By: AMERICANS WHO TELL THE TRUTH : portraits and narratives highlight citizens who courageously address issues of social, environmental, and economic fairness. By combining art and other media, AWTT offers resources to inspire a new generation of engaged Americans who will act for the common good, our communities, and the Earth.
Top Photo from TIME article : FINDING HOPE
