The counseling projects provide individuals who reside in, have worked in, or have some other pension or employer connection to the regional service area with the following services: drafting administrative pension claims and appeals, and providing representation and support through administrative proceedings; identifying and pursuing pension benefits from clients' prior employers; answering basic questions about rights and remedies under all public and private pension systems throughout the service region; operating a region-wide outreach program to ensure public and provider awareness of the Program's broad focus of assisting individuals with pension and retirement savings problems, regardless of age or income; and targeting certain outreach efforts to those in greatest need.

Pension issues do not occur in a vacuum and accordingly ACL expects counseling projects to have the capacity to identify (issue-spot) and appropriately refer individuals with whom they are working on pensions matters for appropriate assistance, including but not limited to elder abuse. ACL expects counseling projects to pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized and adversly affected by persistent poverty and inequity. Advancing equity can create opportunities for the improvement of communities that have been historically underserved, which benefits everyone.

The Pension Counseling and Information Program effort to protect financial security in retirement directly supports ACL’s interests in promoting increased choice and greater independence among older adults. The activities of the program serve to enhance the financial, as well as the emotional, physical, and mental well-being of older adults, thereby increasing 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 security and independence in retirement, enabling retirees to make informed financial and other choices in retirement, and to enable retirees to remain in their own homes and communities with high quality of life. The Program significantly contributes to the overall mission of AoA in the following ways:

• Monetary recoveries help individuals achieve and maintain a steady income stream providing financial security, which in turn may allow them to remain in their homes and communities;
• Outreach information directly increases access of consumers on issues related to make informed decisions with respect to pensions and other employer-sponsored retirement plans.
• Direct information and advocacy services efficiently fill an important gap across a broad spectrum of need, since no single government agency has a comprehensive and person-centered formal responsibility to assist retirement plan participants.
• Program capacity is maximized through partnerships with community-based organizations and the aging network.

For additional details on project goals, objectives, and activities, see p. 6 of the FOA in Attached Files.

• Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity below), subject to any clarification in the text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"

Estimated Total Program Funding: