In homes across California, an essential exchange offers a glimpse into the throughline of care in our communities. An elder shares a story with the caregiver who helps them navigate the day. A housekeeper ensures a clean, safe environment for a family managing a loved one’s chronic illness. This work—the labor of caretaking—allows millions to live, work, and age with dignity. And yet, the people performing this work, predominantly immigrant women, have labored in the shadows, excluded from the most basic workplace protections, visibility, or state support. If our elders need this care, then won’t our respective generations need it, too?
The California Domestic Workers Coalition (CDWC) exists to bring that vital workforce out of the shadows and into the center of a new vision for the state. Founded in 2006, the CDWC is a unique grassroots coalition and the leading voice for over 300,000 domestic workers in California—the largest concentration in the nation. What we know is the following: that the future of California’s aging population and its domestic workforce are inextricably linked. The dignity of the care receiver is inseparable from the dignity of the care provider.
The CDWC states that their work aims to “create a world that centers care and interdependence where all people live, work, and age with dignity and in their full humanity.” This is an aspiration but also a daily practice, forged through policy campaigns, leadership development, and innovative models that directly address the intersecting needs of elders and the workers who support them.
The CDWC’s work confronts a legacy rooted in the New Deal era, when domestic and agricultural workers—jobs held then and now largely by women of color—were deliberately excluded from federal labor laws. “The coalition really came together in 2005-2006 in this confrontation of this exclusion,” explains Megan Whelan Escobar, CDWC’s Interim Director. “That history is connected to slavery, to enslaved folks… It’s a multi-racial, cross-cultural demonstration of the value of immigrant labor.”
This history shapes the coalition’s present structure, which is composed of 15 membership-based affiliate organizations across the state, but directed by a steering committee of domestic worker organizations. Crucially, each group must have at least two domestic workers present when making decisions. This ensures the women who are nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers for seniors are the architects of their own movement.
The coalition’s strategy is multifaceted, but a landmark 2025 victory (that has been five years in the making) highlights its impact on the practices and protections around elder care. On July 1 of this year, SB 1350 took effect, extending Cal/OSHA workplace safety protections to more than 175,000 domestic workers employed by agencies in California. This includes a significant portion of the homecare workforce.
Ms. Escobar notes the campaign originated from workers’ experiences during wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our leaders were experiencing a lot of danger… they were left out of evacuations, and then asked to clean up after fires with no protection,” she says. The pandemic further exposed the risks of working in private homes without safety standards.
SB 1350 now requires agencies to provide hazard training, proper equipment, and injury prevention programs. For an elder receiving care, this means their aide is better protected from injury and illness, leading to more consistent, secure care. For the worker, it’s a long-overdue recognition of their right to safety. Ms. Escobar calls it “one really big step forward,” while acknowledging the work continues for those hired directly by families. It’s a critical move toward professionalizing domestic work and safeguarding the settings where our loved ones age.
Passing a law is one thing; putting it to the test is another. The CDWC’s Domestic Worker Education and Outreach Program (DWEOP) turns theory into action. This peer-to-peer program trains workers on their rights and provides direct support to recover stolen wages—a more common problem than many realize. The results so far have been powerful; CDWC has helped recoup nearly half a million dollars for workers in this unregulated industry.
This work transforms individual lives and the nature of the care relationship itself. As one domestic worker and babysitter from San Francisco shared with CDWC, “Know Your Rights training taught me to value myself. To set boundaries…when one is undocumented, we feel pressured to always say yes. Now I know that I have my rights.” Another worker leader, a nanny, added, “Before I joined the training… I didn’t know how to compute my wage. And it was just okay with me as long as I got paid. But now, I calculate everything.”
Perhaps the most visionary illustration of the elder-worker nexus is the “Vivid Life Homecare Cooperative Initiative,” launched in 2025. Confronting the intersecting crises of an aging population, poverty wages, and racial inequality, Vivid Life is building a statewide network of worker-owned homecare cooperatives.
By 2027, the initiative aims to create stable, dignified jobs for over 200 caregivers—mostly immigrant women and women of color—while delivering high-quality, culturally relevant care to elders. This model flips the script: caregivers become owners, gaining democratic control, living wages, and economic security. For elders and families, it promises consistent, compassionate care from an invested, respected workforce. It’s a tangible model of the coalition’s vision, showing that in order for a care system to be sustainable, it must include both those who give and those who receive care.
The “Long-Term Support Services (LTSS) Grassroots Coalition” addresses all sides and demographics of the care spectrum. This alliance brings together older adults, people with disabilities, and homecare providers to advocate for a more just and sustainable system, fighting budget cuts and lobbying for better wages and affordable care.
The sustainability of this work depends on the leaders it cultivates. Workers like Reyna Alvarado, who participates in a community radio program, finds strength in breaking isolation.
“We tell our stories to empower ourselves and to raise the awareness within our community,” she says. For many, leadership is about transforming personal hardship. Ms. Escobar observes that leaders are driven by a desire “to reach other workers so they don’t experience what they’ve gone through and break that cycle.”
To nourish this resilience, the coalition integrates cultural work and healing–an often overlooked modality in advocacy and public sector programming.
“Art allows you to access a different vision,” Ms. Escobar says. “In order to find solutions… you have to access a creative part of ourselves.” This approach provides a counter-narrative to the fear and misinformation targeting immigrant communities, which the CDWC also combats through direct digital campaigns.
The road ahead for CDWC involves deepening this work: implementing SB 1350, expanding the DWEOP program, and defending communities under threat. The coalition’s nuts-and-bolts strategy remains focused on building the political power of domestic workers through advocacy, enforcement, and leadership development.
At the same time, the CDWC’s holistic vision and journey reinforces their radical truth that caring for our elders and valuing the workforce that makes it possible are one and the same mission. By fighting for safe jobs, living wages, and respect for domestic workers, they are fundamentally fighting for the quality and dignity of care for all Californians as they age.
Ultimately, Ms. Escobar and the CDWC envision a future that celebrates the value brought by women, immigrants, and women of color to the caretaking sector, a future where the legal exclusions against domestic workers are gone and are instead replaced by an unstoppable and organized movement that has reshaped society’s understanding of care work.
