Investing in the Direct Care Workforce: Lessons From the CalGrows Training and Stipend Initiative

The California Growing a Resilient and Outstanding Workforce (CalGrows) program sought to address the challenges of low retention and low pay among direct care workers (DCWs) and improve the quality of care delivered to older adults and people with disabilities by distributing $150 million in grant funding to organizations that provided free training to paid DCWs and unpaid caregivers. This study evaluated the design and delivery of CalGrows training courses and DCWs' and caregivers’ attitudes about their training experiences.