OpportunityTitle: Pension Counseling and Information Projects
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: Eligible applicants include domestic public or private and non-profit entities including state, local and Indian tribal governments, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, and institutions of higher education, with a proven record of advising and representing individuals who have been denied employer or union-sponsored pensions or other retirement savings plan benefits, and which have the capacity to deliver services on a regional basis.
Description: Project Relevance &amp; Current Need. The need for trustworthy pension information and assistance has never been greater. The complexities inherent in our nation&#146;s retirement system make it practicably inaccessible to the vast majority of its participants and beneficiaries. The system is vast with private employers sponsoring more than 700,000 retirement plans in the United States, each with its own set of complicated rules. Federal State and local government employers bring thousands more plans into the mix. Each of these private and public plans represents a multifaceted interaction of federal and state labor and tax laws. Systemic issues such as pension plan underfunding, terminations and freezes are affecting millions of workers and retirees each year. And thousands more are unable to locate their retirement benefits because their former employer has changed its name, merged with another, relocated or gone out of business altogether. Even where the plan sponsor is readily identifiable, thousands of workers apply for their pensions each year only to learn that their benefits have been miscalculated, or denied altogether. Questions concerning the impact of death and divorce on retirement benefits often add a further level of confusion for participants and family members. Additionally, during difficult economic times, layoffs and plant closures can lead to a wide variety of benefits issues that are particularly troublesome for workers and their families. Accurate information from a trustworthy source is essential in helping these individuals better understand how considerations of immediate financial need impact their long-term financial security. Furthermore, when early access to benefits is necessitated by job loss or other life change events, it is critical that services are available to ensure such benefits are accurately calculated and timely paid. Finding competent assistance, even for the simplest of pension questions, can be a daunting challenge. Contributing significantly to the difficulty is the fact that no single government agency is charged with assisting individuals who have difficulty navigating these pension systems, or to help them locate or claim their benefits. Where government assistance is available, it generally will not verify benefit calculations, interpret complex plan language, or conduct the labor-intensive investigations necessary to rebuild lengthy work histories in order to prove pension eligibility. Trying to find a lawyer can also be both difficult and discouraging. This is not only due to the highly specialized and complex nature of this area of practice, but also because those who are most dependent on the income from these plans &#150; low and moderate wage earners &#150; often have cases of only modest value that may not attract the interest of the private bar. Indeed, income from employer-sponsored pensions and retirement savings plans is increasingly crucial for the retirement security of most Americans. And for the most vulnerable of older Americans &#150; disadvantaged seniors &#150; finding a trustworthy place to turn to for personalized, hands-on help in obtaining the benefits they have earned can make the difference between destitution or institutionalization, and living one&#146;s retirement years with independence and dignity. B. Program History. Recognizing this tremendous need, Congress directed the AoA to develop demonstration projects specifically designed to help individuals understand and exercise their pension rights. Beginning in 1993, the AoA has funded the Pension Counseling and Information Program, founded upon two service hallmarks: trustworthy and personalized assistance regardless of age, income or value of the pension claim; and, broad-based expertise covering all employer-sponsored pension and retirement plans, regardless of sponsor type (public, private) or plan type (defined benefit, defined contribution). AoA has expanded the Program to its current level, covering 27 states through a network of regional pension counseling projects and a single national technical assistance project. The Program has been overwhelmingly successful across a variety of measures, the most impressive of which is that it has recovered nearly $100 million in benefits for the tens of thousands of clients it has served. This represents a direct return to clients served of more than $5.50 for every federal funding dollar invested. Even when benefits are not warranted, the information and assistance that the projects provide offer vulnerable elderly individuals the satisfaction of finally achieving &#147;peace of mind&#148; after months or even years of frustration in searching for answers. The projects also have an extensive outreach network that helps to keep individuals aware of their pension rights and of the fact that the counseling projects exist, should they encounter a problem. Based on this success, the Counseling Program was made a permanent program in 2000, under Title II of the Older Americans Act, as amended. C. AoA Program Purpose. The Pension Counseling and Information Program&#146;s effort to protect financial security in retirement directly supports the Administration on Aging&#146;s interests in promoting increased choice and greater independence among older adults. The activities of the Program serve to enhance the financial, emotional, physical, and mental well-being of older adults, and thereby increase their capacity for independent choice with regard to health care and medication, nutrition, and living conditions, as well as planning for long-term care. These decisions, in turn, support older individuals&#146; efforts to maintain security and independence in retirement, to make better financial and other choices in their later years, and to remain in their own homes with high quality of life for as along as possible. Advocacy programs such as the Pension Counseling and Information Program also help to ensure that older adults are able to exercise increased choice and independence in an environment that is free from abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Program significantly contributes to the overall mission of AoA in the following ways: &#149; Monetary recoveries help individuals achieve and maintain financial security, which in turn allows them to remain in their homes and increases their independence and decision making; &#149; Outreach information directly increases access to consumers on issues related to elder rights, consumer protection and economic security in retirement; thereby empowering seniors to make informed decisions with respect to pensions and other employer-sponsored retirement savings plans; &#149; Direct information and advocacy services efficiently fill an important gap across a broad spectrum of need, since no single government agency has the formal responsibility to look out for and assist retirement plan participants; &#149; Program capacity is maximized through partnerships with community-based organizations and the aging network, and through linkages with AoA&#146;s Eldercare Locator, Aging and Disability Resource Centers, and legal services programs; &#149; Measurable outcomes are defined and encouraged by employing sophisticated data collection and evaluation measures in consultation with the AoA Office of Evaluation. D. Program Approach: Project Goal, Objectives and Activities. Applicants must submit a project plan, the primary goal of which is to establish or continue a regional pension counseling and information project. Applications must demonstrate the sponsoring organization&#146;s ability to accomplish the following goals and activities: 1. Regional Pension Counseling and Referral Services. A major goal of a regional pension counseling and information project is to provide appropriate services throughout a proposed region. Key objectives and activities must include: a. Counseling and Information Services. i. Case Services: Counseling projects must provide a range of direct and often detailed legal advocacy and other investigative and support services (short of formal litigation), including: (A) Legal representation of clients up to and through administrative pension claim and appeal proceedings, short of representation in court and formal litigation, including: (1) Obtaining and evaluating governing plan documents and other information (such as employment and earnings records) necessary to calculate or claim benefits or exercise pension rights; and (2) Drafting and submitting benefit claims and appeals, and negotiating benefit settlement agreements, and other related assistance services ranging from brief services such as letter writing, email and telephone communications on behalf of clients, to more extensive research and investigative services. (3) Locating &#147;lost&#148; plan sponsors for clients who worked long enough to earn a benefit, but have since lost touch with their former employer due to a company change in name, location, form or operational status. (4) Answering callers&#146; basic questions about their pension plans and the laws and regulations that govern them. ii. Referral Services: The purpose of a project&#146;s referral efforts is to build and utilize a cohesive region-wide network of private and public service providers to serve clients whose needs are beyond the scope of pension counseling and information services. These include: employee benefits litigation, preparation of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, actuarial assessments (unrelated to case services), financial education and advice, retirement and estate planning, and low-income and aging related legal services. b. Regional Service Delivery: It is recommended that pension counseling projects identify from 4 to 6 contiguous states as their proposed service region, providing identical services and access to those services throughout. Proposals should clearly identify the considerations underlying the proposed region. For example: all states might lie within a single federal court circuit; are already recognized as a geographic region (Pacific Northwest, or Southeastern US); have an established network of other regional service providers; or other substantive or operational considerations. Note: Significant additional justification will be required from applicants proposing regions consisting of states numbering fewer than 4 or greater than 6. Such justification might include data on the population within the state that is covered by or receiving income from a private or public pension or retirement income plan, and the number of pension inquiries received by government agencies, public plan offices or other sources of basic pension information within the state. The AoA will not fund a proposal to serve less than an entire single state. c. Exclusive Subject Matter: For purposes of this grant program, &#147;pensions&#148; or &#147;pensions and retirement savings plans&#148; include defined benefit pensions and defined contribution pension and profit sharing plans that provide retirement income and that are sponsored by government and private employers. Benefits that are not the focus of this grant program include: public or private health, welfare and disability benefits; and benefits provided through the Social Security Administration, Veterans Administration, or any other public benefit or entitlement program. d. Individuals Served: Projects must provide equivalent services and equivalent access to those services to individuals, regardless of age or income who: i. Reside or work in the project&#146;s service region either now or at the time the benefit was being earned; or who ii. Seek pension benefits that are sponsored, administered, trusteed or provided to workers within the service region either now or at the time the benefit was being earned. Note: Proposed projects that are sponsored by an organization with differing geographic or individual eligibility criteria than those of the pension counseling project must specifically describe how the larger organization will introduce and/or maintain internal awareness of the differing standard throughout its relevant employee populations and program operations. e. No Charge for Access: Projects must be easily accessible at no charge to low-income, rural and other hard-to-reach senior populations throughout the region through technologies such as a toll-free phone line and an easy-to-navigate website. 2. Regional Outreach Activities: Projects must conduct effective and efficient region-wide outreach in order to maximize the intake of appropriate clients as well as to build and maintain successful client-referral relationships with trustworthy information and service providers. While a portion of the project&#146;s outreach activities must be targeted to reach underserved and hard-to-reach seniors, including those with limited-English proficiency, the primary purpose of outreach activities is to generate pension clients. Regional projects are primarily responsible for outreach activities within their service region, while the national technical assistance project will be primarily responsible for nationwide or multi-regional outreach efforts. Regional projects and the national technical assistance project must coordinate their outreach efforts to maximize impact and minimize duplication of effort. Project outreach must include the following objectives and activities: a. Project-Specific Outreach: Outreach for pension counseling services has proven most effective when it is undertaken as a specialized initiative, separate from and /or in addition to outreach for other services offered by the sponsoring agency. i. Project Brochure and Other Outreach or Informational Materials: Projects will utilize a uniform brochure for the Pension Counseling and Information Program and ensure that other outreach products are founded upon the Pension Counseling and Information Program Messaging Platform (available through the Project Officer for new applicants). To ensure consistent quality and character, the national technical assistance project will coordinate brochure orders with the projects. Applicants should reserve a clearly identified outreach-specific budget, covering brochure and other printing, postage, stationery, phone, travel and other expenses sufficient to adequately fund an effective region-wide outreach campaign. Projects should inform the national technical assistance project of its various outreach efforts to avoid duplication of effort. Regional projects are primarily responsible for developing outreach strategies, information and materials specifically covering state and local government pension systems throughout the region; the national technical assistance project will develop materials covering plans governed by federal law. All informational resources should be based on identified need. ii. Media Relations: Proposals must demonstrate organizational experience and capacity to deal quickly and effectively with inquiries from members of the press and other media. iii. Public events: Outreach efforts targeting the general public or small groups have proven less effective over time at consistently generating pension counseling clients. Proposals that include outreach activities such as public presentations, workshops, classes, seminars or other educational efforts must demonstrate that such efforts: (A) Will be primarily targeted at attracting pension clients for the project or at expanding the project&#146;s regional intake and referral network; (B) Will use the project&#146;s expertise in pension law, rights and remedies (as opposed to retirement or estate planning, or other financial education); and (C) Will not significantly reduce project resources that could otherwise be dedicated to pension counseling or more direct outreach activities. b. Regional Intake and Referral Network: Projects should develop and maintain a coordinated intake and referral network that takes maximum advantage of existing sources of pension counseling clients throughout the region, including: federal, state and local government pension agencies and plan offices; offices of elected representatives and their respective constituent services functions; law firms and solo practitioners with experience in pension law; state and local bar associations&#146; lawyer referral services; legal services providers; state and area agencies on aging; Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs); and community organizations focusing on elder rights and consumer protection. While targeting certain outreach toward disadvantaged and non-English speaking populations is encouraged where need is identified, the majority of project outreach should focus on targets most likely to yield a steady and productive volume of pension counseling clients. c. Tracking Outreach Activity and Outcomes: Projects are required to track and report on their specific outreach activities, and how successful their outreach activities are at attracting appropriate clients to the project. AoA will identify the baseline data set to be collected, along with collection and reporting methodologies that all projects must adhere to. At a minimum the data set will include the specific outreach target (agency, event, publication etc.), method (brochure, letter, phone call, press release, etc.) and frequency (quarterly, annually), as well as each client&#146;s referral source (tied to project outreach activity as is practicable). 3. Programmatic Consistency: Now that the AoA Pension Counseling Program is significantly beyond the &#147;demonstration phase&#148; and is a permanent program under the Older Americans Act, AoA has identified certain practices that contribute significantly to a project&#146;s overall success. AoA bases the following recommendations on the experience of the Program to date. AoA now looks for increased consistency across projects in certain key operational areas proven over t
GrantorContactEmailDescription: rebecca.mann@aoa.gov
GrantorContactText: Rebecca Mann &lt;br/&gt;Grants Management Specialist &lt;br/&gt;