Day 1: Income Security

In honor of Older Americans’ Month, Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) is hosting a week-long blogging event to acknowledge how federal income supports build economic security for elders. Select experts from national organizations will author blog posts on the policies that allow elders to close the income gap. WOW will facilitate an online dialogue allowing advocates, service providers, elders, family caregivers and others to learn about the federal programs that build elder economic security and, more importantly, to take action. Each day will focus on a particular aspect of an elder’s budget.

Make your voice heard by taking part in WOW’s blogging event:

• Read and comment on blog posts featured on the National Elder Economic Security Initiative blog.
• Share the blog posts via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail
• Sign and send WOW’s statement of principles for elder economic security.

Let Congress know that you support federal funding to support elders ability to age in place with dignity. We need your voice to protect all things that build economic security for elders.

MONDAY: On Income Security, featuring…

• Nancy Altman, Social Security Works:
  "Expand Social Security, Don't Cut It"
• Joan Entmacher and Katherine Gallagher Robbins, National Women's Law Center
  "Social Security Is Women's Security"
• Karen Friedman, Pension Rights Center
  "Retirement Under Attack" 
• Cindy Hounsell, Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER)
  "Social Security: Keeping It Strong Now And For The Future"
• Gerald McIntyre, National Senior Citizens Law Center
  "SSI Must Be Strengthened"
• Donna V.S. Ortega, AARP Foundation
  "Building Financial Security For Older Americans"
• Marci Phillips, National Council on Aging
  "One Away And The Older Americans Act"
• Kate Birnbryer White, Elder Law of Michigan
  "When The Grandparents Lose Economic Security, So Do Children And Grandchildren" 

Why All Things Shouldn't Be 'On the Table' for Cuts
Authored by Stacy Sanders, Director of the Elder Economic Security Initiative at WOW

“All things are on the table,” is an often-heard mantra in the nation’s capital these days. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are looking to slash critical public assistance programs, ranging from housing subsidies to meals programs, and social insurance, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

Drastic spending cuts in these areas are paraded as an essential means of reigning in the nation’s debt. What’s often missing from this dialogue is the fact that these programs support basic economic security for elders and their families. It is increasingly important that advocates, service providers and citizens voice collective support for the many federally funded policies and services that allow elders to make ends meet. Cuts to these programs target vulnerable older adults who have already made disproportionate sacrifices.