Of beautiful multiracial multigenerational group of people who said we want to build a movement in this country for a more caring america, a more caring economy that works for families and for workers and supports us all to live with dignity at every stage of life. And four years later we are building in cities and states around the country. We have reached almost threequarters of a million senior voters every year, talking to them about caregiving and aging and longterm care and how we prepare for their future. We have been working hard to pass home care a rule change that will bring 2 million home care workers under minimumwage and overtime protection in the history of this country. [applause] so a movement for a more caring future is underway. Its growing and its making a difference. But really this is just the beginning and we are hoping that the age of dignity opens up another platform for us to continue building this conversation and building this momentum towards the solutions that we actually need for the future. And the age of dignity is truly a book about solutions and stories, your stories, my story, saritas stories stories of family caregivers who are grappling with how to manage caregiving for their aging loved ones, stories about home care workers are really take pride in the work that they do and yet still struggle earning poverty wages to make ends meet. And support their own families. The people that we count on to care for our families and their loved ones can take care of their own with the state of the jobs in the home care sector today. In its stories about people who are aging and growing older in this country and struggling to do so in a way that recognizes the dignity and the choice and the ability of all of us to be able to live well as we age. And the truth is that we are aging as a nation. There is no denying it. This year in 2015, 4 million of us will turn 65 four Million People will turn 65 in this country and that means by the year 2030, 20 of americans will be over the age of 65. My grandmothers demographic of 87 and older is the fastestgrowing demographic in this country and people are just living longer because of advances in health care and medicine and technology. Longevity is expanding and the baby boom generation reaching retirement age is creating the largest older population have ever had in the history of this country. What that means is by the year 2050, 27 million americans will need some form of longterm care or assistance just to make her meet our basic daily needs, 27 million of us. And we dont have a plan. Our families are prepared. You will see in the book that my family wasnt prepared. We dont have a plan and our country isnt prepared. What seems like an immense challenge i believe and generations believe its actually an incredible opportunity. Its an opportunity to not only transformed the 3 million direct care jobs that have been unsustainable jobs into good jobs for the 21st century that you can take pride in but its also the opportunity to make sure that our work and family care policies actually reflect the needs of 21st century working families. Its also an opportunity to make sure that every one of our loved ones who take care of us like my grandfather and my grandmother actually have the choices that they deserve as they grow older to live with dignity life on their terms. So that is the opportunity before us, to create the kinds of solutions that uplift us all. You will see in the age of dignity that there are so many stories and solutions already out there that point the way seeds of the future that we must create together. And it is truly a future that we must create together. Its about each of us as individuals preparing and planning. Its about our families preparing and planning and moving a conversation that had been historically laden with fear and anxiety and scarcity into one of possibility and abundance and connection. And that is the challenge before us. We are going to take this conversation that each of us are probably happening in some way shape or form in our private behind closeddoor lives. If we are not having a conversation we are struggling in some way shape or form and we are going to take it together in community and to the National Public conversation about the future of this country. That is the task and that is the opportunity ahead. And the age of dignity has solutions and stories that point the way. We are going to talk more about next steps before we close out the program but the theme of tonight mirrors the book where we are going to talk about the power of story to drive social change. Never before has there have been this issue that we are all touched by and yet its something that doesnt appear in the National Public conversation about our priorities our policy priorities of the future. Its not reflected back to us as an experience so by lifting up the stories and do the stories you are going to hear tonight you are going to see a reflection of the heart in the soul and the courage and resilience and the possibilities for the future of caregiving in america. [applause] and we are going to take it off with a story from the book. At the end of her career providing care for others 66yearold janee is retired. This means working less not entirely by choice. She has aged and it has become harder for to find work and to do the actual work but she is still looking. She still needs to send money home to her family in the philippines and to save for her own health care and retirement. Thankfully she received a spot in government subsidized housing housing, a small onebedroom apartment in the Senior Housing complex in chicago. Otherwise she could not afford a roof over her head. Travel has always been a passion of hers. This in the drive to support her family brought her to the United States in 2004 from the philippines. Over the years she has collected trinkets and ornaments like memories. They fill every corner of her small home. Many of these items have an asian origin like the series of three paintings of Cherry Blossoms hanging over the wall by the stove. Every time she posts the filipino Grandparents Association meeting in her apartment she is proud to share the meaning behind those paintings. Agram. Association is an annual public celebration and this year she has been diligently rehearsing a broadway medley with a choral group. She is excited that the medley includes songs from her favorite musical, the sound of music. After showing me the most significant items in their collection she insists on feeding me. She labels out a bowl of macaroni soup and has a slight milky broth with elbow macaroni and several kinds of meats which i cant identify with the exception of sausage. The eclectic mix mirrors at the core and her small apartment. She is a very good cook. All of her clients have told her. They all want her to make Filipino Food for them. She has introduced many chicago seniors to soft foods in the philippine cuisine which makes swallowing easier. She has is taking care of people with alzheimers the most challenging clients of all in her mind. Her last lines were a couple 88 euro couple with alzheimers and her 82yearold husband. She did want to take a bath or stand up but i just took my time. It takes a lot of patience. I worked there a little less than five years. They have no more money, put her in a nursing home in three months later she died. The husband just died last may and thats why i have no work. Her own mother in the philippines has alzheimers and she pays for her caregiver. I dont want her in a nursing home so im sending money. Thats why im looking for a new job. Its been more than five years since i worked through an agency but im applying now. She lives in fear getting sick being unable to work and and being put in a nursing home in the United States. I dont want to go to a nursing home. They have a lot of patience and its hard for them to attend to. They dont take care of you there. A friend of my sister went to one and they didnt give her food. Id rather go home to the philippines. If they get sick they are people to take care of us. For now she has bills to pay. She doesnt have a savings plan. She keeps on caring for others. As we envision a future in which we take care of americas families across generations we must create systems that adequately honor and compensate jody marleen melinda and the millions of other workers providing care. In a fair economy peoples whose profession is to raise children would not have trouble feeding for caring for their own children and the people who provide care for elders would receive support for their own retirement. Securing future we must create we will honor and respect and value the precious labor that these workers provide the care of upholding our society. The independence and productivity we treasure as individuals of all ages and destination require the work of caregivers at their foundation. With appropriate pay, benefits and Employee Support such as childcare and transportation along with training and real career ladders these can be respectable family sustaining jobs. Turning caregiving jobs into dignified jobs will have a Ripple Effect on society on the economy and other spiritual health. By doing so we affirm the dignity of people at every stage of life into old age and in every walk of life including caregiving. [applause] thank you aljen poo. Simply reading from her book the age of dignity. We have two more stories. This larger project as aljen said is linked with the story project that is helping to train and encourage people to tell their stories. We are going to start with one on a video behind me on the screen from Beth Engelman who was with a Partner Group of caring across generations. That is a new york city teacher for 30 years. Shes an active Public Servant at heart. She taught fifth and sixth grade in coney island and was so dedicated to the community that she worked there throughout her career commuting from the Upper West Side until her retirement in the early 1990s. She also spent 36 years volunteering at Memorial Sloankettering Cancer Center the Adoption Center at the aspca anderson the dogs soup kitchen. Now with the at the age of 80 she keeps in touch with her former students through facebook and i ask you to turn your attention to the screen to share that story. [video playing] my life is a very independent person doing things for myself by myself. My mom used to walk me to school everyday and it was only five blocks from my home but then she had my brother and i said well this is my opportunity for independence. And i pleaded with my parents to let me go to school by myself. Well we had a discussion and i was a pretty responsible kid so they felt the probably did it. What i didnt know the first week that i went on my on my father was behind me to make sure i was doing the right thing and was safe. He must have been satisfied because i was allowed to go to school on my own for the rest of the year and the rest of the time that i was in elementary school. Its not surprising when later in life i needed hip replacements of the right and left hip. I took myself to the hospital both times. I never thought of doing it a different way. My mobility became a little more challenged. A roll egg is a fancy name for a walker. It has four wheels. It has hand and breaks. It has a seat to saddam in case i got tired and it has a basket underneath to hold things. This walker became my constant companion. I felt i really needed a name for it so it became alice walker. [laughter] alice and i used to walk up and down the west side of new york. We would do what we wanted to do and go where we wanted to go. We were totally independent and i was loving my life. But then september 20, 2014 things changed. I went to the podiatrist the one i go to every five weeks because i have terrible feet and usually when i leave him he takes care of the corns and calluses and cuts my nails and does all these things. This time when i left his office i was still in pain. I noticed my left foot was dragging and as much as i try to walk faster i was in snail mode. So i realized something was wrong and i took myself to the urgent care center. After examining me the doctor said you have to go to the er at Presbyterian Hospital for an mri. The mri confirmed that i had had a stroke. So i was admitted to the stroke unit at the hospital and i was there for the next five days. It wasnt long before encountered two of the most dreaded symbols of total dependence the call button and the. The first time i rang the call button when i needed nature calling it took so long for someone to respond that i figured they were coming from a galaxy far far away. [laughter] and when they came i said whoever designed this new nothing about human anatomy. If theres anything worse than waiting for a is waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to take it away. Avanda five days i still couldnt walk so the social worker suggested that i go to amsterdam which is a rehab place place. It couldnt have been a better choice. I got Occupational Therapy and physical therapy on a daily basis and most of the time on the weekends. I got all the help i needed but i was always encouraged to take a step to try as much as i could for myself. So i went from a wheelchair to alice and my first big breakthrough was when alice and i went to the bathroom by ourselves. Can you imagine at the age of 80 i was actually able to go to the bathroom by myself. What an accomplishment. From there we walked unaccompanied to the dining room back and forth three times each day that the big triumph was when i got on the elevator 11th floor walk down to the first floor and took myself over to the snack machine where i satisfy my craving for potato chips and cookies. Alice and i became very good friends with that snack machine. In the beginning of january it was decided that i was well enough to continue my at home. I would begin the ot mpt on an outpatient basis and i was ready ready. When i got off the elevator in my home the first thing i saw was balloons around my door welcome me home. Can you imagine how that made me feel . That was just the beginning. When i opened the door this 40yearold carpet that was disintegrating before my eyes was gone. The floor was absolutely clean. The furniture that had been in the way and impossible for me to move around the apartment easily was gone. My refrigerator was restocked. The mattress i had was set up and ready for me to lay down as soon as i was tired and in general i looked around the apartment and i said wow this is wonderful. Every day the two weeks i have been home someone has come and to continue to make improvements to my apartment. My Guardian Angel jennifer comes in every day and so far that two of us have filled up three huge garbage bags with stuff, things i didnt even know i had, things i knew i had that i didnt want. Anyone who walks into my apartment says why does it look so much bigger . Its not. Its a small studio but its not as cluttered as it was before. So, i started to think about my journey over the past three months and i said you know what, getting help is really not that bad. Independence is a state of mind and instead of diminishing made it empowers me to return to the life i had dts before the stroke. So i now think of myself as a very independent person with benefits. [applause] thats one story from beth. You are going to hear one another. Most of you i think when you think of sarita gupta you think of a codirector across generations or the fiery leader of the wonderful jobs with justice a nationwide group that brings together people of faith, Community Groups and student groups and labor and fights for economic and social justice but tonight she is going to tell you her story so sarita gupta. [applause] thank you john. So the other night while i was packing my daughter into bed she said to me mommy im going to miss my room one day that im going to miss my home. I was really taken aback by this comment. We had a short conversation. I had a short conversation with her. I was both saddened and heartened by the conversation. Saddened that at four years old my little baby girl is worried about leaving home someday but heartened that for her her home is a place of love and a place of security and safety. Its a lot like the way i think about my childhood home as well. Growing up my home was full of life, lots and lots of people. My parents are incredibly social so our house became the center of gatherings of all types. Everything from neighborhood cocktail parties to dinner parties, two big celebrations. We just had a constant flow of houseguests are our house as well. So i had very few memories of ever being alone in my home. At the center of all of this were my parents. My parents were my foundation, my rock. They supported me through everything. They nurtured me and encouraged me and frankly they loved me into the person i have become. My dad he used to work really long hours but he managed to make it home every night for dinner or to kiss me goodnight. He is the kind of man do as a child you would say hey dad what is a Lunar Eclipse and his rounds response would be thats a great question. You should look it up in the encyclopedia write a little reported lets talk about it at dinner tomorrow. That was classic dad. My mom is this amazing woman who i dont know how she managed. She would drive me all over town for all of my activities. She would also on top of driving me all over town drive my brother and my sister all over town. She would manage our house and on top of it we would would have a homecooked dinner every single might. Together they just created an amazing home for me. A few years ago i was visiting her family gathering. We have are visiting my sister at the time out in california. My dad asked my sister for some ice cubes for his drink so my sister said im really sorry dad i am out of ice cubes that i just filled up the ice tray and i will stick it in the freezer and it will be done soon. It will be ready. So about three minutes later my father asked for ice cubes again again. I was like whats going on . I looked at my mom and i looked at my sister. Is he kidding around . So my sister just replied that she was out of ice cubes. But then five minutes later my father asked for ice cubes again. At that moment my heart sank. It sank because he really was not kidding. He had forgotten that he had asked about ice cubes. So my mom had been warning us for a while that something was just a little bit off with my dad. He seeme