Patricia Ciorici (Public Affairs Ph.D. candidate) and department chair Patrice Mareschal, presented a co-authored paper: “Against All Odds: Civic Engagement and Power Building in an Invisible Workforce,” at the International CRIMT (Research Centre on Globalization and Work) Conference, in Montreal, Canada, October 2012. This paper examines how home care workers in Oregon, a predominantly female, geographically dispersed, and economically under-valued workforce were brought together to experience the power of direct political action, shape public policy, and extend their reach beyond the union to other civic and social groups.