I didn’t choose this work. It chose me.
When my son was born with special needs, my world changed. I was suddenly part of a care community I hadn’t even known existed—one made up of tireless, compassionate, deeply committed people doing the work of holding families together. What started as a personal journey quickly became a calling. I knew I had to be part of this system, not just for my son, but for others navigating it alone.
Today, I’m a human services worker. I help families through their hardest days, their most uncertain moments. But unlike a typical 9 to 5, my job doesn’t stop on weekends. It doesn’t pause for holidays. The people I support—many of them elderly, disabled, or facing mental health challenges—need care around the clock. And I show up. Every time.
What I don’t get in return is a paycheck that lets me live with dignity.
That’s why I joined the BUMP campaign—Bring Up Minimum Pay. Because the truth is, human services workers like me are the backbone of New York. One in nine New Yorkers works in this field, most of us women and people of color. We care for your grandparents, your children, your neighbors. And yet, we’re paid poverty-level wages.
Let that sink in: the people fighting poverty are forced to live in it.
This crisis is no accident. Government contracts fund most nonprofit human services work, but those contracts haven’t kept up with the true cost of living. Even as wages in other sectors have grown, ours have stayed stuck. Meanwhile, cost of living adjustments (COLAs)—the only increases we sometimes see—aren’t nearly enough to bring us out of poverty unless base wages are raised too. That’s exactly what BUMP is fighting for.
The consequences of low pay go far beyond our paychecks. They impact the people we serve. When wages are this low, organizations can’t recruit or retain staff. Turnover is high, burnout is real, and entire programs are left understaffed—or shut down. That means services disappear. Families go without help. And vulnerable people fall through the cracks.
We’re asking for something simple: fair pay for essential work. The CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance has the data. The legislature has the power. Now we need the will. Human services work is real work. Life-saving work. And it deserves real compensation. I’m proud to care for my community, but I shouldn’t have to sacrifice my own family’s well-being to do it.
New York’s future depends on the strength of its communities—and communities depend on us.
It’s time to pay human services workers what we deserve.
Porsche Carvalho is a human services worker and advocate
