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**U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (DHHS)**\
**Administration on Aging Fiscal Year 1998 Program Announcement
(AoA-98-8) and Application Kit**

**SUMMARY**: The Administration on Aging (AoA) announced in the Federal
Register of July 20, 1998 that it will hold a competition for a
cooperative agreement to support a **National Resource and Education
Center on Women and Retirement**, as authorized by Title IV of the Older
Americans Act, as amended (Public Law 89-73).

The accompanying set of materials comprises the **application kit** to
prepare and submit grant proposals in competition for this Center award.

This program announcement consists of two parts. Part I provides
background information and describes the priority area, the **National
Resource and Education Center on Women and Retirement,** under which the
AoA is inviting applications to be considered for funding. Part II
describes, in detail, the process governing the consideration of Center
applications for funding and provides guidance on how to prepare and
submit an application.

All of the forms (Standard Form 424), Assurances, and Certifications
necessary to complete the application are included following Part II.
The Cooperative Agreement award to be made under this priority area is
subject to the availability of funds.

**DATE**: **The deadline date for the submission of applications is
September 9, 1998.**

**ADDRESS:** Application receipt point: U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Administration on Aging Office of Administration and
Management 330 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 4643 Washington, DC 20201
Attn: AoA-98-8

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services Administration on Aging Office of Program Development 330
Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 4274 Washington, DC 20201(202)
619-1058/1269

**Part I. Background Information and Priority Area Description**

**A**. **Statutory Authority**

The statutory authority for awards made under this program announcement
area is contained in Title IV of the Older Americans Act, (42 U.S.C.
3001 et seq.), as amended by the Older Americans Act Amendments of 1992,
Public Law 102-375, September 30, 1992.

**B.** **Eligible Applicants**

Applicant eligibility for the National Resource and Education Center on
Women and Retirement is limited to public and private non-profit
national organizations with a knowledge base and a proven track record
of experience in addressing issues and programs relevant to women,
economic security, and retirement.

Any nonprofit organization applying under this program competition that
is not now a DHHS grantee should include, with its application, Internal
Revenue Service or other legally recognized documentation of its
nonprofit status. A nonprofit applicant cannot be funded without proof
of its status.

**C.  Priority Area Description**

**1.**  **Introduction**

The Administration on Aging is soliciting applications under this
program announcement to establish a resource and education center which
emphasizes how essential it is for women to plan during their adult
years for economic security in their later years, whether they be
single, married, divorced or widowed. The Center is expected to advance
the work accomplished in this area by projects funded as part of the AoA
pension information and counseling demonstration program. The Center is
also expected to build upon the progress, reports, and recommendations
made by the Retirement Savings Summit held in June 1998. This program
announcement is designed to capitalize on these previous efforts and
target resources specifically on the issues that face women, as they
plan for and approach retirement.

**2**. **Background**

**A**.  **Retirement Issues Faced by Different Cohorts of Women**

Women planning for or facing retirement have a complex set of issues
with which they must grapple. Furthermore, the issues of women who are
currently retired or widowed are different from those in their forties
and fifties, and will be different for those women who are under 35 and
for succeeding generations. Many of these issues are linked to the
changing roles of women in the workforce, and others relate to pension
and retirement laws, which do not take into account the patterns of
women in the workforce which have evolved over the years.

Social Security and pension systems were largely devised to be
responsive to the working patterns of men. Women who have reached
retirement age and above frequently did not work outside the home, and
therefore, were only eligible to share in the pensions and social
security allowances of their husband, which were frequently reduced or
terminated after the death of the husband.

Women in the 35- to 60-year-old range today have a different and even
more complex set of issues to address. Many of them will have worked
before marriage, may leave the workforce for a period of time to raise
children, and will return to the workplace where they may often remain,
until their spouse retires, or a parent or ailing spouse needs care.
Should the spouse die prior to retirement, they may stay longer in the
workforce and past retirement age. These women will experience extended
longevity, tend to be better educated, earning higher annual incomes,
and marrying later in life than their older counterparts. These factors
plus the fact that they tended to have fewer children and later in life,
a greater probability of divorce and/or remarriage, and less trust in
Social Security provide a set of circumstances which accentuate the
demand for careful, long-term care planning for a secure retirement.

Women of all ages in the workforce still experience the affects of age
and/or sex discrimination and frequently end up working at lower paying
jobs (whether full-time or part-time) than men. In the case of women who
enter the workforce for the first time in middle age or reenter after
childbirth, even if they have comparable marketable skills, they often
face limited opportunities and are unable to build the same formal work
history into their resumes.

**B.  Pensions**

Another complicating factor, alluded to previously, is the fact that
pension systems require a minimum of 3 to 5 years of employment prior to
an employee's participation in the system and vesting rights. Women who
enter and leave the workforce or work part-time, for reasons usually
tied to family obligations, are not able to remain in one job long
enough to become vested. Also, until the 1984 Amendments to the
Employment and Retirement Income and Security Act (ERISA), divorced
women did not have any entitlement to a portion of their former
husband's pension. But now with a Qualified Domestic Relations Order at
the time of divorce, women are eligible for a portion of their former
husband's retirement benefits. Widow's benefits were not protected prior
to ERISA and its 1984 amendments. A husband could elect to take a
greater annuity during the remainder of his life, because it would
terminate upon his death. Now, he must acquire a signed and witnessed
signature from his wife, if he elects this option, rather than a smaller
annuity for the rest of his life so that a portion of the annuity will
remain with his wife for life after his death.

The shift in defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution plans
has also affected women significantly. Again, women in low-wage or
part-time jobs earn less than their male equivalents and are usually
unable to set aside minimal savings for retirement. Employers may choose
not to contribute, until an employee has become vested. An employer may
not contribute anything, if the employee works less than full-time.
Smaller businesses do not have to participate under these plans, if they
choose not to do so. Women, rather than men, tend not be employed with
enough time for vesting in a pension plan, work at less than full-time
jobs, and often for small businesses.

The U.S. pension system is inherently complex, with components
administered by the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service,
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and with key data and input
provided by the Social Security Administration. The Department of
Defense and the Veterans Administration also may enter a veteran's
calculation of benefits.

The 1992 Amendments to the Older Americans Act enabled AoA to launch a
demonstration program designed to provide older Americans with
counseling and assistance in navigating the complex process of figuring
out what pension benefits they might be entitled to upon retirement.
This project has also assisted retirees and their families in preparing
to make claims in situations in which they feel that a mistake in
benefits has resulted in an unfair payment, in the form of a lump sum or
an annuity.

The pension counseling projects, funded through the AoA demonstration
program, since 1993, have dealt with a myriad of these issues for both
men and women. Many of the issues presented by older women have focused
on situations arising from divorce and widowhood. These older women may
have built limited Social Security and pension benefits during their
working years, or they may not have been employed. Particularly in the
latter case, they are dependent on their former husband's annuities to
provide income that spells the difference between poverty, minimum
subsistence, and moderate income security.

**C.  The Retirement Challenges Facing Women**

When the Social Security System was enacted in 1935, it was based on
German Count Otto von Bismarck's 1870 estimate that 65 years of age
would be a length of life that few people would attain. The average
American lifespan in 1900 was 47.1 years. However, current life
expectancy for U.S. males and females is now about 78 years and 83 years
respectively.

In view of this greater longevity of the population and the increasing
number of people choosing an early retirement (ages 55-62), two
conclusions are apparent. First, our Social Security and other public
retirement programs are a necessary, but hardly sufficient source of
retirement income. Nor was Social Security ever intended to be such.
Second, the amount of money a prior generation calculated to be
sufficient for their retirement years will be inadequate to cover the
number of years people now may live in retirement. Creeping inflation in
future years will only compound the problem, since pensions will not
keep up with inflation. For baby boomers and younger adults to live
comfortably in their senior years, they are well advised to set aside
larger and larger portions of their present income to invest in their
futures. For baby boomers and younger adults to make that commitment to
savings and investments, they must be persuaded by solid arguments about
the importance of long range planning and saving for retirement. These
challenges faced by men and women, but much more acutely by women,
provide the foundation for the establishment of National Resource and
Educational Center on Women and Retirement.

**3.** **Purpose and Scope of the Center**

The proposed Cooperative Agreement on the National Resource and
Education Center on Women and Retirement will have a multiple agenda:
(1) to better educate women of all ages about the different resources
and materials available to them in planning for and living a secure
retirement; (2) to better educate employers on ways of developing
retirement programs adapted to the women in their workforce; (3) to
develop appropriate training materials for employment and retirement
counselors on issues pertinent to working and older women; (4) to
conduct and/or synthesize policy-oriented research, resulting in papers
and reports that advance debate on the economic, social, and political
factors affecting the retirement security of women; and (5) to prepare
and disseminate information for the use of women and their families in
planning for retirement.

The Center must recognize that it is dealing with a complex and
heterogeneous population of older women who have multiple socio-economic
backgrounds. The Center should survey and synthesize materials which are
already available on financial planning and retirement issues and focus
on reaching low income women and women of color. New approaches and
techniques must be devised to reach and educate women of all ages about
the importance of planning and saving for their later years. Research
and policy reports should be prepared for employers and other
decision-makers to assist them in understanding the barriers facing
low-income and minority women and what is needed to overcome these
barriers. Applicants should plan to hold a national conference which
will address women's retirement issues with a special emphasis on
reaching low income and women of color.

Other issues which need to be addressed through education, research and
policy analysis include educating women and domestic relations attorneys
about the importance of considering women's pension rights in the course
of any divorce settlement. Husbands and wives need to be clear about the
status and disposition of their pensions and annuities, and their
understandings of these benefits must necessarily be reached prior to
the death of either spouse. Heavy emphasis also needs to be placed on
saving for retirement, beginning at a very young age. The perils and
pitfalls of borrowing against one's pension plan (especially for 401k's)
except in extreme cases of emergency, must be understood. In this
regard, the Center should consider the feasibility of developing (or
adapting and updating) a user-friendly training program for financial
planning for women which could be either used in local communities and
revised periodically as women progress through various stages of their
lifecycle. This \"self-help\" financial planning vehicle could be used
and stored on one's computer and updated along with other personal and
family records.

The Center should build upon recommendations of the National Pension
Summit, held in January, 1997, and the Retirement Savings Summit
assembled in June, 1998. Familiarity with the AoA pension counseling
projects and the 1997 Report to Congress on these projects will also be
expected of all applicants.

Eligibility for this Center is limited to nonprofit entities and
organizations with a preference given to agencies and organizations
which are both knowledgeable and experienced in dealing with issues and
programs relevant to women, economic security, and retirement. The AoA
intends to fund one Cooperative Agreement award under this announcement
with a maximum federal share of \$250,000 per year for a project period
duration of approximately three years.