<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>News and Opinions « Direct Care Alliance &#187; public policy</title>
	<atom:link href="http://blog.directcarealliance.org/category/government/public-policy-federal-and-state-government/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org</link>
	<description>What direct care worker advocates are thinking, saying and doing</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:11:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>DCA to Build on Momentum in 2012</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2012/01/dca-to-build-on-momentum-in-2012/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2012/01/dca-to-build-on-momentum-in-2012/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:41:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tracy Dudzinski</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advocacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[as leaders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DCW associations/coalitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Direct care consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[respect]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[skills and attributes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[training and education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Voices Institute]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4572</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dear Friends, Thanks to the hard work of our direct care worker leaders and allies, we made a lot of progress in 2011, and there are many opportunities for continued success in 2012. As DCA’s board chair, I am incredibly proud of the leadership and vision of DCA’s executive director, Leonila Vega, as well as [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2012/01/dca-to-build-on-momentum-in-2012/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Huffington Post Shines Light on FLSA Companionship Exemption</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/12/huffington-post-shines-light-on-flsa-companionship-exemption/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/12/huffington-post-shines-light-on-flsa-companionship-exemption/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:24:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Direct Care Alliance</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;If you&#8217;re in this job for money, you&#8217;re in it for the wrong reason, but I&#8217;d like to see that change someday,” says a Florida home care worker in Healthcare Workers on Verge of Winning Equal Rights, Higher Pay. The December 1 Huffington Post article looks at the companionship exemption that denies home care workers [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/12/huffington-post-shines-light-on-flsa-companionship-exemption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Strengthening Social Security to Improve Direct Care Workers’ Retirement Security</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/strengthening-social-security-to-improve-direct-care-workers%e2%80%99-retirement-security/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/strengthening-social-security-to-improve-direct-care-workers%e2%80%99-retirement-security/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:38:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Direct Care Alliance</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[DCA initiatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Download a PDF or Flash version of the brief Recent proposals to cut Social Security benefits would threaten the already fragile retirement security of direct care workers, according to Maintaining and Improving Social Security for Direct Care Workers. Instead, argues the 16-page issue brief, the program can and should be strengthened in ways that will increase [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/strengthening-social-security-to-improve-direct-care-workers%e2%80%99-retirement-security/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Protecting the Social Safety Net</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/help-protect-the-social-safety-net/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/help-protect-the-social-safety-net/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:32:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Ward</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advocacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arizona]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Direct care consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maryland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michigan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Montana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nevada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ohio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington state]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4387</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[UPDATE: Help us fight to preserve these crucial programs by emailing your elected representatives. Our action alert makes it easy to send them a letter. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are under attack. Over the past several months, these social safety programs have become the focus of a political battle over what our government needs [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/11/help-protect-the-social-safety-net/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Demonizing Caregivers No Way to Reduce Elder Abuse, says DCA Issue Brief</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/demonizing-caregivers-no-way-to-reduce-elder-abuse-says-dca-issue-brief/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/demonizing-caregivers-no-way-to-reduce-elder-abuse-says-dca-issue-brief/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:37:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Direct Care Alliance</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Direct care consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy briefs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Publications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[training and education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workloads]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4329</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“The personal, often intimate nature of caregiving relationships can make it difficult to define, detect, and deter the abuse of elders and people with disabilities by the caregivers they rely on. Nonetheless, there are a number of steps that employers and policymakers can take to support good care and prevent abuse,” says No Excuse for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/demonizing-caregivers-no-way-to-reduce-elder-abuse-says-dca-issue-brief/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Working for Less than Minimum Wage</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/working-for-less-than-minimum-wage/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/working-for-less-than-minimum-wage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:02:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Clara Glenn</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pennsylvania]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[skills and attributes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[workloads]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’ve been doing home care work for 30-some years, and I love it. I tell everybody I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You have to have a heart to do this work. You can’t just do it for no reason. You have to be dedicated. I always put God first in my life, and [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/working-for-less-than-minimum-wage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Stumping for the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/stumping-for-the-direct-care-job-quality-job-improvement-act/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/stumping-for-the-direct-care-job-quality-job-improvement-act/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:29:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joan Leah</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advocacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[as leaders]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DCW associations/coalitions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4285</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I returned home after attending this year’s Voices Institute, I made a commitment to myself. I committed to not waste the investment made in me by DCA; the confidence placed in me by my association, the Florida Professional Association of Care Givers, when they recommended me for the training; or the commitment I made to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/10/stumping-for-the-direct-care-job-quality-job-improvement-act/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why We Home Care Aides Should Get Overtime Pay</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/why-we-home-care-aides-should-get-overtime-pay/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/why-we-home-care-aides-should-get-overtime-pay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:53:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ja'Ray Gamble</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4246</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I believe that we home care workers should get overtime pay. I work a lot of overtime, but I do not get paid for it. Caregiving is my calling here on earth. I’m a giver. I love this work, and I am absolutely in love with my company: They’ve helped me a lot. That’s my [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/why-we-home-care-aides-should-get-overtime-pay/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Put More Jobs in the American Jobs Act</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/how-to-put-more-jobs-in-the-american-jobs-act/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/how-to-put-more-jobs-in-the-american-jobs-act/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:51:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rania Antonopoulos</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[job creation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4240</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Rania Antonopoulos is a senior scholar and director of the Gender Equality and the Economy program at the Levy Institute. She wrote this post with the assistance of her colleague Michael Stephens, senior editor at the Levy Economics Institute. President Obama’s recently proposed American Jobs Act would put people to work building and repairing the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/how-to-put-more-jobs-in-the-american-jobs-act/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Let&#8217;s Not Let Home Instead Shut Down a Path to Justice</title>
		<link>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/lets-not-let-home-instead-shut-down-a-path-to-justice/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/lets-not-let-home-instead-shut-down-a-path-to-justice/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:58:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Helen Hanson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Advocacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation and regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Minimum wage and overtime for home care workers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wages and benefits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.directcarealliance.org/?p=4157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is extremely troubling that Home Instead, a national chain of home care franchises, wants to take the power away from the U.S. Secretary of Labor to undo the companionship exemption that home care workers unjustly find themselves under. This makes absolutely no sense. Who should make the rules pertaining to the home care labor [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://blog.directcarealliance.org/2011/09/lets-not-let-home-instead-shut-down-a-path-to-justice/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

