Caring for our families and communities is one of the most universal human experiences. That’s why our Care and Health Equity Working Group chose to focus on the “Sandwich Generation” caregiving crisis as an opportunity for narrative disruption. Pew Research Center defines the “Sandwich Generation” as middle-aged adults caring for aging parents and kids. John Legend pointed out on the View over 50 million people across the U.S. are providing some form of unpaid caregiving. A 2025 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving found that number is closer to 63 million people. Considering most of anyone’s labor caring for children, parents or other loved ones, regardless if they are well, ailing, disabled or chronically ill, is unpaid, this number is not surprising. Care is an act of love for our families and communities but it takes its toll when we also have to keep roofs over our heads, the lights on and food on the table. This was never easy, but our current economic situation makes it nearly impossible for millions and millions of us.
The question we are trying to answer in the working group is how can we get folks to see the value in the care we do and join the fight to resource it. Our landscape and assessment team here at Narrative Initiative found that affordability was the most consistent theme across conversations about the Sandwich Generation and care. Their research also uncovered an important question we need to answer: what path can we take to get folks to expect and demand that caregiving be seen as a well-resourced public good that everyone deserves. As we embark on this work with our partners, we wanted to share some insightful, interesting and engaging resources that can help us start thinking about care in new ways.
Who’s Talking about “the Sandwich Generation”?
There are an increasing number of organizations, institutions, social media and high profile folks speaking to the challenges facing the Sandwich Generation. Here are some resources we have come across in our work:
Care Out Loud: Founded by Bradley Cooper after caring for his ailing father, Care Out Loud aims to visibilize unpaid care work.
Caring Across Generations: Founded by Ai-jen Poo and Sarita Gupta, Caring Across Generations is fighting to make care and caregiving accessible and affordable for all.
Care Work: This 2018 collection of essays by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a great primer on care and disability justice to expand your ideas of what truly just systems of care can and should look like. Then check out their next seminal text on disability justice, The Future is Disabled.
The Millennial Sandwich: For those podcast lovers, take a listen to Dr. Anita Chandra and Zara Hanawalt talk all things sandwich generation from friendship to finances.
The Sandwich Pod: Another podcast on “life in the middle,” The Sandwich Pod offers a comprehensive list of resources on different aspects of caregiving.
For further reading on building movements to resource communities during times of crisis, check out our blog posts below.
What is the “Sandwich Generation”?
Caring for our families and communities is one of the most universal human experiences. That’s why our Care and Health Equity Working Group chose to focus on the “Sandwich Generation” caregiving crisis as an opportunity for narrative disruption. Pew Research Center defines the “Sandwich Generation” as middle-aged adults caring for aging parents and kids. John Legend pointed out on the View over 50 million people across the U.S. are providing some form of unpaid caregiving. A 2025 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving found that number is closer to 63 million people. Considering most of anyone’s labor caring for children, parents or other loved ones, regardless if they are well, ailing, disabled or chronically ill, is unpaid, this number is not surprising. Care is an act of love for our families and communities but it takes its toll when we also have to keep roofs over our heads, the lights on and food on the table. This was never easy, but our current economic situation makes it nearly impossible for millions and millions of us.
The question we are trying to answer in the working group is how can we get folks to see the value in the care we do and join the fight to resource it. Our landscape and assessment team here at Narrative Initiative found that affordability was the most consistent theme across conversations about the Sandwich Generation and care. Their research also uncovered an important question we need to answer: what path can we take to get folks to expect and demand that caregiving be seen as a well-resourced public good that everyone deserves. As we embark on this work with our partners, we wanted to share some insightful, interesting and engaging resources that can help us start thinking about care in new ways.
Who’s Talking about “the Sandwich Generation”?
There are an increasing number of organizations, institutions, social media and high profile folks speaking to the challenges facing the Sandwich Generation. Here are some resources we have come across in our work:
Care Out Loud: Founded by Bradley Cooper after caring for his ailing father, Care Out Loud aims to visibilize unpaid care work.
Caring Across Generations: Founded by Ai-jen Poo and Sarita Gupta, Caring Across Generations is fighting to make care and caregiving accessible and affordable for all.
Care Work: This 2018 collection of essays by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a great primer on care and disability justice to expand your ideas of what truly just systems of care can and should look like. Then check out their next seminal text on disability justice, The Future is Disabled.
The Millennial Sandwich: For those podcast lovers, take a listen to Dr. Anita Chandra and Zara Hanawalt talk all things sandwich generation from friendship to finances.
The Sandwich Pod: Another podcast on “life in the middle,” The Sandwich Pod offers a comprehensive list of resources on different aspects of caregiving.
For further reading on building movements to resource communities during times of crisis, check out our blog posts below.
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