After an unsuccessful attempt in 2018 to pass both a bill and budget proposal to create the Domestic Worker Rights Education and Outreach Program (DWEOP), Hand in Hand worked alongside the CA Domestic Workers Coalition to win $5 million in the state budget for an unprecedented domestic worker rights enforcement program to implement the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. Similar to our role in the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights campaigns of 2013 and 2016, Hand in Hand mobilized domestic employers in support of this proposal to demonstrate that domestic employers would benefit from a program that seeks to share information on the labor rights of domestic workers and the responsibilities of their employers.
Modeled after similar programs in the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the DWEOP is a partnership with the Department of Industrial Relations to reach, educate and train domestic workers and domestic employers about the rights and protections domestic workers have under California labor law.
In 2020, the Department of Industrial Relations awarded the CA Domestic Workers Coalition a three-year grant which was then redistributed to nearly 15 community organizations to conduct outreach and education. Hand in Hand was the only organization to receive a grant that targets domestic employers. In 2021, with the DWEOP funding, Hand in Hand is expanding its resources for California domestic employers, its educational partnerships and webinar/workshop offerings.
