We Rise Evaluation Research Report Launch

The ILR Worker Institute at Cornell University is launching its report evaluating the impact of the We Rise Nanny Training on domestic workers’ workplace standards and their leadership development. The We Rise Nanny Training is a peer education, workforce empowerment, and workforce development program run through a partnership between the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s ILR School, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), and the NDWA/We Dream In Black – NYC Chapter; Carroll Gardens Association; Adhikaar; Beyond Care Cooperative; Community Resource Center.

The drive to raise standards for domestic workers across the United States has entailed strengthening their formal rights through legislative campaigns and bolstering their capacity to enforce those rights through organizing and education. The workforce is made up disproportionately of immigrants and women of color; domestic workers—like many other workers in the low-wage economy—are often more vulnerable to the risks of speaking out about labor violations or unfair working conditions. This is made all the more complicated because they are a fully decentralized workforce employed within private homes and by the intimate, relational nature of domestic workers’ (nannies in particular) labor.

The We Rise Nanny Training program uses peer training, a popular education approach that aims to strengthen domestic workers’ capacity to raise standards in several ways:

• Training them in workers’ rights and negotiation skills.
• Certifying them in specific skills that increase their employability.
• Building their confidence and leadership within the workplace and the movement for domestic workers’ rights.

Our 18-month evaluation of the We Rise Nanny Training examines the impact of this training program at these different levels—how it affects individual nannies’ sense of empowerment and workplace standards, how it affects their participation in organizing and collective action, and the role it plays within the organizing and base-building efforts of participating worker centers and worker cooperatives.

The report launch will include a presentation of the research findings, followed by a panel discussion with key stakeholders discussing what is required to build domestic workers’ collective power and raise standards in domestic work through training, organizing, and formalized structures for setting and enforcing local industry standards.

Panels will be live-streamed. 

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