The Caring Economy

Due to extreme weather conditions, this event has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date.

Recent demographic and economic changes have combined to create unexpected new pressures for many American families. We are living longer than ever before: by 2035, the U.S. population over the age of eighty-five is expected to more than double, to 11.5 million. As baby boomers turn sixty-five at the rate of 10,000 per day, millions of families are now taking on the challenge of caring for their aging loved ones, often with little support. Meanwhile, nearly half of American parents of young children now hold two or more jobs, forcing them to work long, often unpredictable hours and leaving them with few affordable and accessible childcare options. And even with the influx of women into the American workforce, by which men and women are sharing caregiving responsibilities more equally than they did a generation ago, families are increasingly turning to domestic workers and home care workers to care for their loved ones - yet this critical workforce is often underpaid.

Why, despite these shifts, is care work in the U.S. so consistently undervalued? What might be done to help working Americans better accommodate the demands of the home, and to ensure that the practical and emotional needs of our children and older adults are being met? What does it mean to live, work, and age with dignity in America today?

Join New America NYC for an evening with three leaders at the forefront of the national conversation to transform our culture and economy to realize the true value of care.

Copies of Ai-jen Poo's The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. will be available for purchase.

Introduction:

Liza Mundy
Director, Breadwinning & Caregiving Program, New America 
@lizamundy

Participants:

Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Founder, Chairwoman, and CEO, Care.com
@smarcelo

Ai-jen Poo
Executive Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
Co-director, Caring Across Generations
2014 MacArthur "Genius" Award winner
@aijenpoo

Anne-Marie Slaughter
President and CEO, New America
Former Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State
@SlaughterAM