Through this funding opportunity announcement, ACL plans to award one (1) cooperative agreement for a National Pension Assistance and Resource Center (NPARC) to support the Pension Counseling and Information Program’s grantees and others, to encourage coordination among the projects, State and Areas Agencies on Aging, legal services providers, and other potential providers of pension assistance by providing substantive legal training, technical assistance, programmatic coordination, and nationwide outreach, information and referral. The award is a cooperative agreement because ACL will be substantially involved in the project.

Pension Counseling and Information Program activities enhance the financial, emotional, physical, and mental well-being of people in retirement, 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 maintenance of security and independence in retirement, to make better financial and other choices in retirement, and to enable retirees to remain in their own homes and communities with high quality of life free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. 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 allows them to remain in their homes and communities;
• Outreach information directly increases access to consumers on issues related empowering individuals 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.

Applicants must submit a project plan, the primary goal of which is to establish or continue a national technical assistance and resource center in support of the ACL regional counseling projects and other appropriate providers of pension assistance. Applications must demonstrate the ability to accomplish a set of goals and activities that includes, but is not limited to the following:

• Training and Technical Assistance
• Nationwide Client Referral and Program Outreach
• Program Evaluation and Improvement

• 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: