CARE's humanitarian work in the United States of America

United States of America

CARE started work in: 1945

CARE fundraising offices around the country raise important funds and advocate for policy change.

Emergency Watch

Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana and the Gulf Coast before continuing on a path of destruction, spinning out tornadoes and flash-flooding across the Northeast.

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CARE's Impact

Type of Work

Crisis

Food and Water

Education and Work

Fundraising

Participants Reached

2020 total

96,700

50%
50%

male
female

Our approach to working in the U.S. is focused on partnering with local organizations to adapt proven programs from other parts of the world to fight domestic poverty and innovating new approaches based on CARE’s best practices, principles and values.

The Global Innovation Hub

In September 2019, CARE created the Global Innovation Hub, which convenes people and organizations dedicated to defeating poverty by achieving social justice and equity everywhere. Online and at our 40K sq./ft co-working space at CARE’s US headquarters in downtown Atlanta, we are building a community of activists, leaders, and movement builders that share our commitment to solving critical social impact issues. We are doing that in two ways:

We are building a network of U.S. nonprofits, academic centers, think tanks, government actors, and private sector partners to rigorously test techniques, technologies, and programs to determine if and how they could be successful in addressing poverty in the U.S.
Both virtually and in-person, Global Innovation Hub partner organizations are sharing and applying lessons learned through a rich blend of programs and convenings – including shared experiences to better understand the racial/ethnic and gender justice issues that underlay poverty in the U.S. and around the world. We are also sharing resources such as CARE’s program library, evaluations, and data to help tackle specific, pressing problems.

Tuesday Talks

The Tuesday Talks series is presented weekly as a space for community members interested in social justice issues around the world. Each week we invite a panel of speakers to share their perspective on a compelling topic, the communities they work with, and offer guidance to the audience on how to get involved. The talks have quickly grown from the initial design as intimate in-person gatherings to virtual discussions.

Innovation Hub partners

The Innovation Hub is home to five partners who share our space and work in ways that are values aligned to CARE’s overall mission. We work collaboratively with these partners across our programs and events.

Join us

Workspace rental

Premiere co-working and collaboration space:

Private offices – starting at $500/month
Dedicated desk – $300/month
Hot desk – $200/month
Day pass – $25/day

Events space

Do something awesome, together:

Multipurpose space with capacity up to 200 people – starting at $350/ two hour minimum; $75/additional hour
Conference room/meeting space – starting at $50/hour

CARE Package Relief Program

The CARE Package Relief program links food banks and community service organizations with gig-economy platforms like TaskRabbit, DoorDash and Lyft to ensure that food and supplies get delivered to the people who need them, while also creating paid jobs for workers who have seen their livelihoods derailed by the COVID-19 crisis. Gig workers in each city benefit from the opportunity to earn a fair wage while serving their neighbors in need.

See our program partners

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Houston, Texas / February 25, 2021

Gabby Dirden, a CARE contractor, helps Walter Ballard collect food and water for his family during Bethel's Heavenly Hands food and water distribution in Houston, Texas, on February 25, 2021. Hundreds of people received much-needed food and water. The need was even greater this week following the snowstorms that disrupted power and water service to much of Houston last week. Bethel's Heavenly Hands is a CARE partner. Photo by Laura Noel/CARE.

CARE Package Relief has brokered partnerships with a wide range of community actors, government partners, and gig organizations and is active in six metro areas: Atlanta, Houston, Louisville, Akron, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Since our launch in April 2020, we have delivered nearly 6 million meals to food-insecure populations and put over $1,000,000 directly in workers’ pockets. We plan to extend programming in current markets and expand to other priority urban areas like Chicago, Detroit, Newark, Miami and Philadelphia, with a goal of implementing in 10 cities across the U.S. in the next two years.

Interested in learning more about this program? Contact Rebecca Holliday at rebecca.holliday@care.org for more information.

Community Savings & Loan Associations (CSLAs)

Based on the proven success of our pioneering micro-savings approach worldwide (Village Savings & Loan Associations), CARE launched the Community Savings & Loan Associations pilot in Atlanta in late 2019 to improve the lives and futures of people in need, by saving more and reducing their dependence on harmful payday loans. CARE is using the lessons from decades of global experience to address issues of financial instability in our own backyard. As one path for scaling, CARE recently signed an agreement with AmeriCorp/VISTA to place VISTA volunteers with local partners in four cities to work with savings groups over the next year – including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston and Louisville. Building on the pilot learnings, we are now adapting the model to scale in the U.S., including opportunities to leverage digital platforms that allow people to connect and save remotely.

CARE Package Cash

Cutting across all program areas are cash interventions. A short-term influx of cash can make a meaningful difference in the lives of families struggling to survive from the economic impact of a protracted crisis or from the shock of a natural disaster. CARE’s experience providing cash and voucher assistance in the wake of global emergencies has proven to be a cost-effective solution to distributing aid that also helps rebuild local businesses. Direct cash transfers enable recipients to purchase the goods their families need most. Cash transfers empower vulnerable individuals with choice and dignity allowing them to take hold of their own financial stability. CARE deployed cash assistance to support communities impacted by the severe weather crisis in Houston, TX and is integrating cash assistance with other communities and stakeholder groups in support of our broader program strategy.

United States of America

In 2019, CARE introduced poverty-fighting initiatives in the United States for the first time. According to the 2018 U.S. census, 38 million people lived in poverty in the United States.

Where We Work

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