More than 200 People Attend Sneak Peak Performance, Panel Afterward With Community Leaders Calling on Elected Leaders to Invest in Care
CHICAGO (August 19, 2024) — Tony Award®–winning visionary and comedian Sarah Jones performed her newest in-development show for more than 200 people at Resolution Studios. “The Cost of Not Caring,” the latest collaboration between Jones and Chicago-based activist Ai-jen Poo, showcased characters, often inspired by Jones’ real-life multiracial family, as they navigated the joy, frustrations and hilarity of providing and receiving care.
In a panel discussion following the 45-minute performance, which was part of the INTO ACTION 2024 arts festival, Jones and Poo spoke with Chicago community leaders about universality of care.
“The care economy is the economy: it’s the wet part of the ocean; It’s the whole thing,” said Jones. “It’s the one thing we all have in common.”
Poo added: “The people who are touched by this issue [care] are the most powerful force for change in the history of this country. We are the generation that could revolutionize the way that we support care in this country…Care was never meant to be an isolated solo endeavor.”
More than 1 in 10 Illinoisans — 1.3 million people — are unpaid family caregivers who provide more than $21 billion in unpaid care. This labor disproportionately falls to women and people of color. Family caregivers experience significant workforce and earning losses, and are often providing care without training or other support.
“People want to give care — they want to do it,” said Ryan McGraw, health/home community based services community organizer at Access Living. “And they are saying: ‘I just can’t afford to because I’m not paid enough.’”
The average income for a direct worker in Illinois is less than $21,000 a year and more than 40 percent of the workforce lives at or near poverty. Most care workers do not receive benefits, such as health insurance or paid time off.
“Home care workers, many of whom are women, aren’t paid wages they can support their families on,” said Greg Kelley. president of SEIU Illinois State Council and SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana Missouri & Kansas, which represents 90,000 healthcare, child care, nursing home and home healthcare workers across the four states. “Low pay and lack of work protections means an overworked, understaffed home care workforce, which has led to a staggering 65% turnover rate. That’s why we need a $20 minimum wage.”
Rahnee Patrick, director of the Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services at the Illinois Department of Health, also emphasized the importance of Chicago residents taking action: “We can build something that is a ministry of interconnectedness. What a great thing we can have together if we can make this movement go forward.”
Jones will also perform the show next month in Detroit and Atlanta as part of “Care on Tour,” a summer storytelling and advocacy initiative by Caring Across Generations and partners that also includes a bus tour across Georgia, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This unified effort aims to amplify the urgent need for affordable, accessible care across the nation by taking care stories, education and action on the road ahead of the election, and inspiring collective action.
To reserve tickets for the Atlanta or Detroit show, please RSVP here.