Care Forward

Care Forward leverages the power of community to raise standards for domestic work at the neighborhood level. We do this by creating a framework for domestic workers and employers to engage in ongoing dialogue and negotiation around pay and other conditions; developing campaigns that raise awareness and enforcement of existing rights/laws and working to formalize domestic work standards for the neighborhood by coordinating a community standards board with workers, employers, and allies.

Join our Contract Campaign!

The Workers Committee decided that written contracts are a top focus for the neighborhood. Contracts are key to enforcing rights and raising standards yet our preliminary research indicated that less than half of surveyed workers have one. Join our campaign to raise the standard contract in our neighborhoods by making a pledge to create or strengthen your contract. By making your pledge we will provide/connect you the resources you need: contract templates, coaching, negotiation training, and zines.

I pledge to strengthen my contract

Contracts

In November 2023, following an Executive Order from President Biden, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released sample contracts designed to help domestic workers and their employers establish clear job expectations and fair working relationships. Written agreements benefit everyone who values care for all! Care Forward has adapted the DOL's templates with recommendations from our community members to make this easy for you!

The "Bronze Contract" helps you get started, while the "Golden Contract" helps you update existing agreements to make them even stronger!

Click Here to access the Golden Contract

Click Here to access the Bronze Contract

Care For All

Care For All

Our first zine, Care For All, introduces our work as a neighborhood-based standards-raising initiative to employers. We crafted Care Checklists and other recommendations for employers and domestic workers to establish clear job expectations and fair working relationships.

  • Negotiation Training for Domestic Workers (English + Spanish)

    7.24.2024 8:00-9:30PM
    On Zoom

    Join Care Forward for a free contract negotiation workshop taught by We Rise peer educators and allies to learn how to create a contract, how to start a conversation with your employer, negotiation Skills + Tips, and how to receive ongoing support

    RSVP

  • Talleres de Negociación para Trabajadoras del Hogar (Español+Ingles)

    7.24.2024 8:00-9:30PM
    En Zoom

    Únase a Care Forward para recibir un taller de negociación gratuito, impartido por unas educadoras de pares de Nos Levantamos por Español y Ingles y aprender cómo crear un contrato, cómo iniciar una conversación con su empleador, habilidades de negociación + consejos.

    RSVP

  • Negotiation Training for Domestic Workers (English + Spanish)

    4.23.24 8:00-9:30PM
    En Zoom

    Join Care Forward for a free contract negotiation workshop taught by We Rise peer educators and allies to learn how to create a contract, how to start a conversation with your employer, negotiation Skills + Tips, and how to receive ongoing support.

    RSVP

Research

Do you have a written contract?

A 2022 community survey indicated written contracts were a top issue. Written contracts help enforce key rights such as overtime and paid sick leave as well as improve the working relationship. In 2024 we conducted the first baseline survey of worker contracts in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope to identify where we are starting at. Preliminary results indicated that less than half of respondents had a written contract with their primary employer.

Preliminary survey results of 121 domestic workers surveyed between March-November 2024 before engaging with Care Forward's contract campaign. The findings produce a preliminary baseline of contracts in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope.

Highlights

Care Hero Awardees in Park Slope

In 2024

  • Launched the first in the nation Community-Led Standards Board for Domestic Workers in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens and Park Slope composed of local domestic workers, employers, organizers, and allies

  • Launched a campaign to increase and strengthen written contracts in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope

  • Developed a survey to further evaluate baseline contract standards and the contract campaign

  • Reached 300 domestic workers and employers in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope through direct outreach, events, and trainings

  • Developed a Contract Negotiation Curriculum in collaboration with We Rise Peer Educators

  • Collaboratively with the Workers Committee and Standards Board designed the Golden Contract that builds off the US DOL template but with the community’s standards

  • Held nine peer-led negotiation trainings in English + Spanish offering in depth support to 33 domestic workers

  • Held four worker and employer outreach events in Park Slope and Carroll Gardens

  • Collaborated with CUNY School of Labor of Urban Studies master’s student to launch the first participatory action research of baseline standards for domestic workers contracts in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope

  • Hosted the 2nd Annual Care Hero Awards with 40 attendees

  • Deepened collaboration with Hand in Hand: the Domestic Employers Network

  • Created a partnership with elected leaders and community stakeholders including New York State Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon and the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Mayuga

In 2023 and earlier

  • Created and circulated a survey for workers to identify priority issues

  • Reached over 200 workers through direct outreach

  • Created a worker-led strategy group that met biweekly

  • Created a worker-led outreach team that conducted weekly outreach in parks + libraries in Carroll Gardens and Park Slope

  • Held four employer outreach events in Park Slope

  • Created social media presence on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram

  • Developed a What is Overtime Curriculum in collaboration with We Rise Peer Educators and Take Root Justice

  • Held 12 Overtime trainings in English + Spanish attended by over 150 workers

  • Presented at the NDWA Congress as part of a broader standards-raising platform

  • Created a partnership with Councilmember Shahana Hanif to support and collaborate with. More to come in 2023!

  • Got Care Forward on the District 39 Participatory Budgeting Ballot

  • Held Care Forward-sponsored Care Conversation with Councilmember Hanif, Park Slope Parents, and over 50 attendees

  • Launched Care Forward with hundreds of domestic workers, employers, and community allies in attendance

Media Coverage

Care Forward leverages the power of community to raise standards for domestic work at the neighborhood level. We do this by creating a framework for domestic workers and employers to engage in ongoing dialogue and negotiation around pay and other conditions; developing campaigns that raise awareness and enforcement of existing rights/laws and working to formalize domestic work standards for the neighborhood by coordinating a community standards board with workers, employers, and allies.

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