backOther Campaign for American Worker Grantees
Retirement Security Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center The Rockefeller Foundation is funding the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center to develop an integrated analysis of how various policies and proposals impact the larger system of retirement security available to older Americans. As part of their grant, the Tax Policy Center will model the effects of various proposals for Social Security reform and private pension systems, with a particular emphasis on the distributional impacts of these proposals. The Center will also analyze the combined impact of current government healthcare policies and various retirement income programs on retirement security. Georgetown University Retirement Security Project (RSP) The Rockefeller Foundation has funded the Brookings-Georgetown Retirement Security Project– which is widely credited with the development of the auto-401(k) provisions of the 2006 Pension Protection Act— to conduct research to evaluate the demand- and supply-side barriers within the annuities market, to explore the feasibility of conducting a study designed to understand retirement planning and annuitization decisions, and to develop strategies for expanding predictable, guaranteed lifetime income for future retirees. Economic Policy Institute (EPI) The Rockefeller Foundation has funded EPI and Professor Teresa Ghilarducci of the University of Notre Dame to develop and situation-model a plan for Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs). The plan consists of a mandatory retirement savings account, to be funded equally by employees and employers that, when combined with Social Security, would ensure that all Americans had an income replacement rate of at least 70% in retirement. The impact of the mandatory contributions on low-income workers would be offset by a refundable tax credit financed through the reduction in current tax subsidies for a 401(k) and IRA accounts. Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) The Rockefeller Foundation has funded WISER, in collaboration with African-American and Latina community partners, to conduct retirement education programs for low- and moderate-income working women to help ensure their greater economic security in retirement. Specifically, WISER’s education programs have three components: direct constituent education; leadership training; and training of trainers. Rockefeller funded WISER to undertake these activities in conjunction with two partners: Mothers’ Voices Georgia and MANA, A National Latina Organization. Economic Security Rockefeller Economic Security Index (RESI) The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting a team of economists and political scientists, led by Professor Jacob Hacker of Yale University, to develop the Rockefeller Economic Security Index. This index will build on the best existing research to define the dimensions of economic security, and will provide an authoritative source that illustrates both how and in what respects economic security varies over time and across social groups.
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Health Care National Council of La Raza (NCLR) The RF will fund NCLR to conduct an analysis of major healthcare reform proposals, evaluating their impact on different segments of the Latino community. NCLR will examine the impact of both individual and employer mandates on Latino workers and their families. Limited data is available on the impact of these proposals on many communities, given that they have been sparsely implemented. NCLR will also identify channels of access to the health care system for uninsured Latinos and investigate the core criteria that are needed to improve the quality of healthcare for Latinos. Savings and Short-Term Risk Management Strategies Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy The Rockefeller Foundation is funding the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy to simulate and analyze alternative approaches for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless adults and non-custodial parents, and to develop recommendations for the most effective components of such an expansion. Informing Policy Makers Peter Gosselin, “High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families” The Rockefeller Foundation has funded L.A. Times reporter, Peter Gosselin, to conduct research and publish a book on economic security titled, High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families. Gosselin’s thesis is that a crucial and largely unappreciated trend of the last 25 years has been the substantial shift of economic risk from business and government to working families, up and down the income ladder. Public Radio International (PRI) The Rockefeller Foundation has funded Public Radio International, which provides content to 800 radio stations nationwide that together draw an audience of more than 30 million people, to build its capacity and coverage of economic security concerns within the U.S. workforce. The aim is to help America’s agenda-setters and thought leaders gain a more nuanced understanding of the interrelated issues affecting economic security. Ariel Education Initiative The Rockefeller Foundation will support the Ariel Education Initiative to conduct a study of 401(k) participation and contribution rates by race among employees of America’s top corporations. The study will focus on Fortune 500 companies, targeting those with strong minority populations, with a goal of at least 10% participation or 50 companies. Data on 401(k) participation from the 50 large companies would provide a statistically valid study that will help inform a national policy discussion on the respective roles of employers and government in encouraging individuals to save for retirement. |