Caring communities

A few weeks ago our mom's assisted living provider was purchased by a private equity group. I call them vulture capitalists because their only goal is to strip what little is still fresh and viable; they gut it, bankrupt it, and then fly off to "save" the next wounded industry.  

Do you know what the average time is between acquisition and sell-off? About 4 years. They are the antithesis of a caring community and a caring economy. While the employees fake smiles to hide their terror, the residents and their families, already under severe distress, are literally just buying time. 

Like millions of Americans I too am deeply steeped in the legacy of misguided economics and shiny savior promises. Like many who once believed in the Religion of Privatization and trickle-down-economics, I’m once again savoring the unpleasant feel and flavor of a “business” wholly designed to extract shared resources and wealth.   

As I reflect on my decades-long journey as a family caregiver and single-mom, one thing stands out as the key sustaining factor; the power of community-- of people who actually care. 

There is zero care or caring in a business that values profit over people. As a former marketing professor I can tell you all the business buzz words, the tactics, and the head-spinning bullshit good people fall for.  But I know this for certain: there are millions of great people in America. The most sensitive and intelligent started preparing decades ago-- to return to nature, to the soil, to caring, to community to what is real. 

Despite the ravages of whatever shattered or derailed them from conventional life, they and we are relying on the greatest unrealized resource in our country- us.






By Mayra Porrata ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

Location: United States

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