Filamstar.net, News Report, Posted: Apr 20, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — Filipino caregivers, local college students and Filipino young professionals have been coming to the Bayanihan Community Center since December last year to train as “researchers” about the lives and work conditions of caregivers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The CARE (Caregiver Research) Project held workshops twice a month that taught trainees skills needed in building research tools, conducting interviews, and analyzing data. In the months ahead, the researchers will begin collecting both qualitative and quantitative data about caregivers’ workplace conditions in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The work will be conducted over the summer through various events at the Filipino Community Center and mobile outreach efforts to important Filipino institutions.

At a commencement ceremony on April 4, guests like San Francisco Supervisors John Avalos and Eric Mar addressed the graduates.

“This is the kind of power we need to build in order to see the change we need for our communities,” said Avalos in his opening remarks, citing the importance of the CARE research project.

National Domestic Workers Association speaker, Guillermina Castellanos, expressed her deep appreciation for the time and effort the researchers have and will continue to put in for the project. Pam Tau Lee of the Bay Area Care Council, on the other hand, articulated her excitement over significant possibilities the project might yield in terms of producing and moving legislation to promote and protect the welfare of caregivers.