AARP Foundation

Credit card debt is the most common type of debt carried by adults 50 and older. According to new research from AARP, this debt is often used by older adults to pay for everyday expenses - from health care to vehicle costs. Additional findings include: 📈 Those who have credit card debt and feel financially insecure tend to have lower incomes, higher credit card balances, and are more likely to have seen their balances increase over the past year. ♾️ Credit card debt and savings are closely intertwined, with credit card debt making it harder to save and a lack of savings increasing vulnerability to credit card debt. Read the full report: http://spr.ly/60400e2Hr

From education to disaster recovery, people across the U.S. proudly wear the AmeriCorps "A" as a symbol of the difference service can make in our communities. In fact, 1.3 million people — including staff at AARP and AARP Foundation — have served since 1994. AARP Foundation recently hosted AmeriCorps alumni, program managers and supporters from across AARP to share their stories of service and impact. Staff who joined the fun included H'saani Boston (AmeriCorps VISTA), Ashlea Dowden, MPA (AmeriCorps alumna), Kendall Schutzer (AmeriCorps alumna), and Joseph Roth (AmeriCorps alumnus). #AmeriCorpsWorks | #AmeriCorpsWeek

Communities thrive when friends, neighbors and volunteers do extraordinary things. With 1.3M people served since 1994, AmeriCorps continues to be a driving catalyst of change and inspiration to serve others. AARP Foundation #ExperienceCorps is a proud AmeriCorps National, Volunteer Generation Fund, and VISTA grantee. Learn more: http://spr.ly/604403WaG. #AmeriCorpsWorks

When older adults volunteer, everyone wins. ✅ Communities gain dedicated support for critical needs. ✅ Organizations expand their reach and impact. ✅ Volunteers discover that in changing lives, they transform their own. In fact, every dollar planted in service grows seventeen-fold in our communities. This isn't just investment — it's transformation. This #AmeriCorpsWeek, we recognize the commitment of the millions of AmeriCorps members and volunteers — including AARP Foundation #ExperienceCorps volunteers — who have contributed billions of hours of service across all 50 states and U.S. territories, creating lasting impact in communities nationwide. #AmeriCorpsWorks

In the past two decades, the number of U.S. workers over 50 has grown by 47%, while those under 50 increased by just 3%. Yet, workforce development hasn’t kept pace—older workers remain much less likely to receive training.   To bridge the gap, AARP Foundation tested a new model for upskilling low-wage workers at small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for nearly half of U.S. private sector jobs. Last week at SXSW EDU, AARP Foundation President Claire Casey shared insights from the pilot and discussed other innovative models for financing workforce mobility with Social Finance, Achieve Partners and Texas State Technical College. Thank you to Social Finance for moderating this important discussion. There will be more promising innovations in the second volume of Workforce Realigned, scheduled to be published this summer. See the link in the comments for more information.

A 50-year old today might still need to upskill or reskill more than 5 times in the course of their career, but our training programs are still designed for the young. Effective models can close the gap between the changing shape of the workforce and the rapidly changing demands of employers.     Thank you to Social Finance Institute for bringing some of these models to the stage at #SXSWEDU this week. There will be more to come this summer with the publication of Workforce Realigned, Volume II. Find a link in the comments to subscribe for updates.

Who are the community heroes? The problem solvers? The ones who won't let go of a challenge in their neighborhood until it's fixed? According to research from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, it's older adult volunteers. Here are some of their recent surprising findings: ➡️ The formal volunteering rate for adults age 50 and over increased from 23% in 2021 to 27% in 2023. ➡️ Volunteers age 55 and over have a higher virtual or hybrid volunteering rate (20%) than people under age 55 (17%). ➡️ Older adults contributed an average of 91.7 hours per volunteer compared to 56 hours per volunteer for adults under age 50. #VolunteerService | #Volunteering

Hope to see you next week at #SWSWEDU! AARP Foundation President Claire Casey is joining Jeremy Bernard-Sasges from Achieve Partners, Michael B. from Texas State Technical College, and Karen Anderson from Social Finance to discuss innovative ways to finance workforce training. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e_bTgaWF

As more older adults reach retirement age, more pension plan shortfalls are likely to surface, according to AARP Foundation attorney Ali Naini. In a recent article from Theo Francis at The Wall Street Journal, Ali and Julie Nepveu shared that the lack of reporting to federal regulators can make church retirement plans vulnerable to fraud and mismanagement. And the issue is bigger than you might think: A 2019 IRS analysis found that workers contribute about $1.8 billion to church pension plans each year, money that could be vulnerable to mismanagement. Learn more about recent cases we've supported, and about the people whose retirement dreams were shattered.

Barbara’s work with AARP Foundation #TaxAide is rewarding on many levels. In this edition of Volunteer Chronicles, learn how she finds joy in working with numbers and tax software -- really! -- and also in finding clients money they didn’t know they were owed.