The Direct Care News 
For direct care workers and their allies August 14, 2012
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Voices Institute Graduates Speak Out in Miami Herald
|  DCA members and Voices Institute graduates Elizabeth Castillo, Tim Doe, and Joan Leah provided powerful quotes and facts for a Miami Herald feature story last week on the U.S. Department of Labor ruling that would grant home care workers minimum wage and overtime pay.
The story explains why DCA and other advocates for rule are concerned that the rule may not go into effect at all if it is not enacted soon. Home care worker and Voices Institute graduate Castillo of El Paso, who does not qualify for overtime and makes barely more than minimum wage, talks about the long hours she logs and her need to rely on food stamps to supplement her income in weeks when she can't get more than 40 hours of work. "I don't know how I do it, but I do," she says. Read more.
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Direct from Washington, DC
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Caring Across Generations to host national telephone town hall: Caring Across Generations (CAG), a national campaign for quality care and support, is hosting a National Telephone Town Hall on Democracy, Jobs and the Budget a part of its efforts to change America's long-term care system and create quality jobs. DCA is a partner in CAG. Sign up for the teleconference, which will take place on August 23 at 4 p.m. EST.
HHS offers free webinars on the health care law: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Partnership Center is hosting a series of webinars on the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as health care reform). The August 21 webinar, which will begin at 2 p.m. EST, will include a tour of HealthCare.gov. The August 28 webinar, also scheduled for 2 pm EST, is titled "The Health Care Law 101" and will be in Spanish. Both will allow time for questions from participants about the law, which must be be submitted in advance. Register online for the August 21 or August 28 webinar. Read more about the ACA and direct care workers.
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The Supreme Court's Ruling on Immigration Law: A Call to Action
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 | Catherine Singley
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On June 25, the highest court in the land made a monumental statement about the United States' broken immigration system: only the federal government has the power to fix it, not each individual state. The Court's ruling is good news, but it is also a call to action. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. direct care workers-about 23 percent-are immigrants and about 15 percent are Latino, making this is an important issue for direct care workers and those who rely on them.
In a 5-3 decision, the Court struck down most of the provisions of Arizona's anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, which has wreaked havoc in Latino communities across Arizona since it was passed in 2010.
Read more from Senior Policy Analyst Catherine Singley of the National Council of La Raza.
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