The National Education and Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning

The summary for the The National Education and Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Administration on Aging, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

The National Education and Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning: Executive Summary The Administration on Aging (AoA) plans to award one cooperative agreement to support a National Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning (Center). The federal share will be up to $248,376 per year, for a project period up to three (3) years, contingent upon the availability of federal funds. Through the Center the grantee will partner with the AoA to assist the National Network on Aging (Network) to implement objectives in support of "Choices for Independence," (Choices), the 2006 Amendments to the Older Americans Act. The concept of Choices presents the AoA with the opportunity to make individuals aware of options for empowering themselves as they plan for their future, especially their long term care. The AoA is the lead partner of the Network, which consists of 56 State Units on Aging (SUA), 655 Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), 239 Tribal and Native organizations, 29,000 service providers, and thousands of volunteers who operate a comprehensive system of home and community-based services for older individuals and their families. Center objectives will be designed to support the incorporation of the concepts of basic financial and retirement planning into the fabric of Older Americans Act Programs. Accordingly, Center activities will incorporate the latest technology to generate and disseminate knowledge in appropriately packaged forms that can assist women, especially low-income women, women of color, and women with limited English-speaking proficiency to build their capacity to plan for, and to exercise, the most prudent options for their economic security in later life. The Center will serve as a national clearinghouse of tools and information on retirement planning and related financial materials. It will tailor its activities and work products to meet the special needs of disadvantaged women and their families, including limited English-speaking individuals. The award will be made in the form of a cooperative agreement because the AoA will be substantially involved in the development and execution of the activities conducted by the Center. Accordingly, under this cooperative agreement, the AoA shall carry out the following activities: collaborate with the Center on the development, modification and execution of the Center work plan; serve as liaison with the Network; provide technical advice on the identification, adaptation and development of financial and retirement planning informational materials for women; and consult on the identification of emerging issues, potential partners, feasible strategies and their impact nationwide. The cooperative agreement will provide the program requirements and measures of program success, as well as describe the training, technical assistance and support to be provided by the AoA and the National Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning. Applicants should ideally be well established and have a known presence in their respective professional communities and must present a comprehensive plan to provide program services nationwide. Applicants must cover at least 25 percent of the project's total cost with non-Federal resources. Eligible applicants under this program announcement include domestic public or private and nonprofit entities including state, local and Indian tribal governments, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, hospitals, and institutions of higher education. To be considered for funding, applicants must demonstrate extensive knowledge and present a proven track record of expertise concerning the nature of financial literacy and retirement education, economic security for women, and communication with low-income women, women of color and women with limited English-speaking proficiency nationwide. I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION Program History The 21st Century has presented an array of challenges and opportunities never before experienced by so many individuals at the same point in time. Baby Boomers are experiencing life styles that demand an array of choices in food, shelter, clothing, living arrangements, and in basic financial arrangements. Simultaneously, increasingly sophisticated technology now means that electronic applications impact all facets of life--from health care, to business, to entertainment, as well as more sophisticated financial products. In line with this social phenomenon, AoA is advancing the integration of "Choices for Independence" (Choices) with Older Americans Act (OAA) Programs. Choices builds on the success of the OAA by promoting options that empower individuals to plan for their overall future needs, including economic, health and long term care by integrating the best practices of other recent HHS initiatives including: the Aging and Disability Resource Center Initiative, Own Your Future Long Term Care Awareness Campaign, Cash & Counseling Demonstration Program and Evidence-Based Disease Prevention for the Elderly Program. This strategy offers a new forward looking paradigm for improved integration of health and long term care systems at the national, state and local levels. The AoA has a history of promoting recognition of the years of contributions made to our American economy by older individuals and facilitating access to information that can help them live more comfortable, secure lives. Often, the individuals most in need of the tools and information to assure them a healthy, honorable and dignified retirement are women, especially low-income women, women of color and women with limited English-speaking proficiency. The AoA is continuing to take steps to remedy this situation by increasing opportunities for women of the future to understand and access retirement planning information. In 2003, recognizing the plight potentially awaiting many older people of today and of the future, i.e. America's Baby Boom Generation, the Assistant Secretary for Aging announced a priority area focused on retirement planning and assistance for women. Under that priority area, the AoA established the National Education and Resource Center on Women and Retirement Planning. The goal of the Center has been to provide traditionally hard to reach women (i.e. average and low-income women, women of color and women with limited English-speaking proficiency), access to "user-friendly" financial education and retirement planning tools through a one-stop gateway. During 2006, in a continuing effort to assist older individuals and their caregivers, the Assistant Secretary for Aging launched the "Own Your Future Long Term Care Awareness Campaign." Through the campaign web site, the AoA provides access to information about OAA Programs and an array of long term care planning tools. To expand this kind of important information sharing, the AoA plans to further integrate OAA Programs with sources for basic financial and retirement planning information. For more information about the "Own Your Future Long Term Care Awareness Campaign" and the National Clearinghouse for Long Term Care Information, please visit http://www.longtermcare.gov.