WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
August 11, 2021

The annual Social Security cost – of – living adjustment (COLA) could be 6.2 percent next year — the highest in almost four decades according to a new estimate from The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). Based on July consumer price index (CPI) data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics “The estimate is significant because the COLA is based on the average of the July, August and September CPI data,” says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. “With one third of the data needed to calculate the COLA already in, it increasingly appears that the COLA for 2022 will be the highest paid since 1983 when it was 7.4%,” says Johnson.

Social Security benefits are one of the few types of income in retirement adjusted for inflation. But soaring inflation can still knock a hole in the household finances of retired and disabled Social Security recipients. In 2021 Social Security benefits increased by just 1.3 percent raising the average benefit by about $20. But about 86 percent of Social Security recipients say their expenses increased by much more than that amount. A new survey by The Senior Citizens League asked “Which of the following financial actions have you taken during the COVID-19 pandemic? (March 2020 to present.) Here’s how survey participants responded:

Financial Actions Taken by Retirees During COVID-19 Pandemic March 2020 to Present

Action/Percentage Reporting

• Spent emergency savings/34%
• Made changes to retirement savings investments/20%
• Drew down retirement savings more than usual/19%
• Visited a food pantry or applied for SNAP benefits/19%
• Provided room and board, childcare or other assistance for adult children and grandchildren/12%
• Applied for assistance with heating and cooling costs/10%
• Went back to work or took a new job/10%
• Applied for Medicare Savings Program or Extra Help to assist with medical or prescription drug expenses/10%
• Refinanced a home mortgage/9%
• Applied for pharmacy assistance program for one or more expensive prescription drugs/8%
• Applied for rental assistance/4%

Source: The Senior Citizens League, 2021 Retirement Survey: 547 responses.

The consumer price index (CPI) that’s used to make the annual inflation adjustment can make a difference in the amount of Social Security income that beneficiaries receive over time. Under current law, Social Security benefits are adjusted using an index that measures inflation experienced by younger working adults, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) but does not include the spending patterns of households with retirees age 62 and older. Because this index surveys the spending patterns of younger working adults, it is weighted more heavily for gasoline, which is up 41.8 percent over the past 12 months and driving the steep rise in the COLA. But in 2020 and most of the past 12 years, gasoline prices have been in steep decline. COLAs have averaged just 1.4%.

Retired and disabled Social Security beneficiaries spend their money differently than younger workers, spending more on healthcare and housing. In recent years those categories have increased more rapidly than gasoline but haven’t shown up as higher COLAs because the CPI-W is weighted less heavily for those categories. When retirees don’t receive a COLA that keeps up with their actual costs, their Social Security benefits lose buying power during the course of a retirement. Based on inflation through March, research by Johnson indicates that Social Security benefits have lost 30 percent of buying power since 2000.

Legislation that would tie COLAs to an index that measures inflation experienced by older households, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) has recently been reintroduced. The CPI-E tends to grow more quickly that the CPI-W in most, but not every year. “2021 is one of those times when gasoline prices soar and the CPI-W would yield the higher COLA,” Johnson says. The Senior Citizens League works to protect and strengthen Social Security benefits and program financing.

With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit http://www.SeniorsLeague.org for more information.

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WADING RIVER, N.Y. (PRWEB)
July 01, 2021

Darryl Davis Seminars, a real estate coaching and marketing company, announces that it has reached its meal donation goal to support Feeding America®, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Following a pledge January 1, 2021, to fund 100,000 meals before June 30, 2021, the company, with the support of its real estate coaching members and business partners, surpassed its goal of donating more than $10,000 to the cause.

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks. Meal claim valid as of 6/26/2021 and subject to change.

“We are proud to have reached our goal to fund 100,000 meals and to have helped children and families across our nation,” says Darryl Davis, CEO of Darryl Davis Seminars. “I want to thank our incredible team, our Power Agent® coaching members, and our partners in the real estate industry such as REDX, IXACT Contact, and RCG Mortgage. When we learned of the staggering impact COVID had on the food insecurity in our country, we knew we wanted to be part of the solution.”

According to FeedingAmerica.org, Feeding America projects that 42 million people (1 in 8), including 13 million children (1 in 6), may experience food insecurity in 2021.

Darryl Davis and team invite you to join the effort to support Feeding America® and fight hunger in our nation by visiting http://www.feedingamerica.org.

About Darryl Davis Seminars

Darryl Davis Seminars is a real estate coaching and marketing platform that empowers real estate professionals with the skills, tools, and coaching they need to grow their business, serve customers, and design careers worth smiling about. For more than 30 years, Darryl Davis has coached thousands of real estate agents to become their personal best. The Power Agent Program® helps agents average more than $33,000 in revenue from their previous year. To learn more about Darryl and his team visit http://www.DarrylSpeaks.com.

About Feeding America:

Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, it provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Visit http://www.feedingamerica.org, to learn more.

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NEW YORK (PRWEB)
June 17, 2021

Casebook PBC is excited to release cb Reporting, a new feature for the industry-leading case management software for the human services field. cb Reporting streamlines data collection and analysis, and generates clear, actionable reports that enable organizations to track their progress, improve service delivery, and communicate social impact ROI to funders, clients, administrators, and the general public.

“We’re giving enterprise-level capabilities to organizations of all shapes and sizes,” said Ninad Amondikar, Data Product Manager at Casebook PBC. “cb Reporting is not only going to improve the quality of programs that organizations deliver, but also save a lot of time and reduce barriers to good data, which means they can spend more time on client interactions.”

cb Reporting builds on Casebook’s innovative software with pre-built reports mapped to common programmatic, evaluation, and fundraising needs. It does so while maintaining the ability to customize each report to meet each organization’s unique priorities, with easily implemented filters, data presentation preferences, and more. An intuitive drag and drop interface means frontline staff and administrators alike can start entering data, and customizing and generating reports right away, even in the field.

“The easy data collection and the custom reporting capabilities ensure that administrators and supervisors can track more frequently and with more reliability how their programs are doing, and then share that data out with funders [or governing bodies],” Amondikar said.

No more juggling between inefficient and complicated spreadsheets or files. All information is in one easily accessible web-based platform. Administrators will no longer have to chase down data, and their staff will spend much less time entering it. Everything is updated in real time, and all reports can be saved and shared easily as a PDF, with just one click.

cb Reporting is available now to all new and existing customers using the Casebook Platform. From child welfare and foster care, to workforce development and violence prevention, cb Reporting is the solution for any and all data needs in the human services field.

For more information on cb Reporting, visit Casebook.net

About Casebook: Casebook, originally incubated by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a person-centric SaaS, inspired by the original version of Facebook. Casebook was originally designed with child welfare experts as a way to help workers prioritize and collect the data required to make informed decisions and improve outcomes. Today, Casebook creates innovative solutions across the human services field that are cloud-based, mobile-ready, and built with input from experts and workers in the program areas we support.

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Center for Disaster Philanthropy welcomes new board chair and chair emeritus

“I am honored and humbled to lead CDP as the new chair following Lori Bertman’s impact on the organization. The influence of CDP is critical at this juncture as we partner with nonprofits, corporations and foundations to focus on humanitarian and natural disasters in proactive and sustainable ways.”

WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
June 02, 2021

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) board of directors welcomed Kenneth M. Jones II, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, as its new board chair, succeeding Lori Bertman, chief executive of the Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation.

“As CDP enters its next decade of growth, I couldn’t be more pleased and confident in Ken’s leadership and vision. With his deep experience in philanthropy and understanding of its relationship to disasters and humanitarian crises, CDP will continue to thrive, evolve and be of special service across the globe under Ken’s leadership,” said Bertman. “CDP exists because good people came together in thoughtful, innovative and generous ways. As I transition into my new role, I’m filled with appreciation to the many donors, partners, staff, volunteers and advisors who made this journey with me.”

Bertman, a co-founder of CDP, has guided the organization to become the only full-time resource dedicated to helping donors maximize their impact by making community-informed, locally focused and equity-centered disaster-related giving decisions. She has been a leading advocate for smart and responsive philanthropic support for long-term recovery so that communities can better withstand future disasters.

Under Bertman’s leadership, CDP has provided more than $60 million in grants to support relief, recovery and rebuilding from disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, pandemics, complex humanitarian emergencies and other crises worldwide. Bertman will continue to support CDP’s work as board chair emeritus.

“I am honored and humbled to lead CDP as the new chair following Lori Bertman’s impact on the organization. The influence of CDP is critical at this juncture as we partner with nonprofits, corporations and foundations to focus on humanitarian and natural disasters in proactive and sustainable ways,” said Jones. “CDP will continue to use a DEI lens, which has been consistent since the origin of CDP, to ensure equitable solutions to disasters for all communities that we serve.”

Jones, recently named James A. Joseph Lecturer on Philanthropy by ABFE, A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities, has served on CDP’s board for five years, including as board treasurer since 2017. Before joining the MacArthur Foundation, Jones served in various leadership roles at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Danya International, Ford Motor Company, Pfizer Corporation and the Prudential. He is on the boards of Candid, Corus, National Prevention Science Coalition and other nonprofit organizations.

New Board Members

CDP’s board of directors also welcomed three new officers:

• 
      Tiffany Benjamin, Senior Director, Social Impact and President, Eli Lilly and Company Foundation.

Benjamin joined Eli Lilly and Company in 2013. She manages the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts, disaster relief efforts, global health initiatives, Environmental, Social and Governance strategy, and community civic engagement. In 2020, she led the company’s global philanthropic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and racial inequity in the United States.

Campbell leads the External Research Office at AMD, which provides resource support to universities and institutions to accelerate technological innovation and science in the public interest. In his role, he led the $15M COVID-19 High Performance Computing Fund that distributed leading-edge technology to 23 organizations worldwide to support the fight against the pandemic and future medical research.

•     Heather Geronemus, Director, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, Ultimate Kronos Group.

Geronemus drives the strategic direction of financial, international, customer and thought leadership public relations and oversees the company’s global corporate philanthropic investments. Geronemus has been with UKG (formerly Ultimate Software) for more than a decade, serving in various marketing, PR and community relations leadership roles. Heather is a sought-after speaker on philanthropy, personal branding and women’s empowerment.

“CDP is grateful to Lori Bertman for her vision and leadership as founding board chair, and we are fortunate that Ken has agreed to take on the role as her successor,” said Patricia McIlreavy, president and CEO of CDP. “Ken’s articulation of the lasting ramifications of disasters upon communities and his commitment to building partnerships for success will serve CDP well as we enter our second decade. I am excited to work alongside him and the incoming directors as we further amplify the importance of disaster philanthropy and its support for long-term and equitable recovery programming.”

About the Center for Disaster Philanthropy

The Center for Disaster Philanthropy leverages the power of philanthropy to mobilize a full range of resources that strengthen communities’ ability to withstand disasters and recover equitably when they occur. It provides expert advice and resources while managing domestic and international disaster funds on behalf of corporations, foundations and individuals through targeted, holistic and localized grantmaking. Find out more at disasterphilanthropy.org and on Twitter @funds4disaster.

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211 LA’s New Logo

This new logo and brand identity captures our evolution from a phone-centric service to a multifaceted technology hub, while staying true to our commitment to serving all of Los Angeles County’s communities, regardless of their situation, language, or technology access

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB)
May 19, 2021

211 LA, a locally based nonprofit community resource hub that provides essential information related to health, human and social services to residents of Los Angeles County, today unveiled its new logo, the first phase of a comprehensive brand refresh and expanded technology-based service offering that better aligns the person-centered approach of 211 LA with the evolution and accessibility of communication technologies.

Since its beginnings 40 years ago as InfoLine, 211 LA has consistently evolved and adapted to better suit the needs of its community. While the old logo featuring a telephone handset was a recognizable symbol reminding people of the telephone hotline service – just dial 2-1-1 to get connected to resources – 211 LA today embraces the many different ways people want to communicate, from text to live chat, email to social media, as well as online self-service.

The new brand and logo invokes the values of 211 LA which emphasize inclusivity, connection, and empathy. The geo pin of the icon symbolizes life’s journey and 211 LA’s role in helping people navigate to the support they need along the way, while the person at the center grounds it in a person-centered approach.

“211 LA is the long time trusted guide to connect you to help when you need it most” said Maribel Marin, Executive Director of 211 LA. “This new logo and brand identity captures our evolution from a phone-centric service to a multifaceted technology hub, while staying true to our commitment to serving all of Los Angeles County’s communities, regardless of their situation, language, or technology access.”

While the 2-1-1 service is already available via phone (2-1-1), text (52-211), and online chat, email, and self-service via 211la.org, 211 LA will be rolling out additional omnichannel services and self-service options in 2021 to meet people where they’re at, provide a seamless experience across communication channels, and provide additional smart options for finding and navigating services in Los Angeles County.

Also, recognizing that a full-service resource hub must also respond to equity and social justice needs, 211 LA has spearheaded innovative programs like Explore Justice, a video series designed to help us unpack and examine the current and historical context that shapes communities’ experiences and lives, developed in partnership with the LA Commission on Human Rights, TaskForce PR, and the LA County Community Schools Initiative. The information hub also operates a hotline for the LA vs. Hate campaign, where those witnessing an act of racial hatred or discrimination can report these incidents 24 hours a day in any language by dialing 2-1-1, or by going online to 211la.org/la-vs-hate and using the translate option if necessary. All of this is part of 211 LA’s mission of providing essential information and connecting people to services, as those needs evolve.

Download the new logo here.

About 211 LA County

211 LA (or 211 LA County) is the hub for community members and community organizations looking for all types of health, human, and social services in Los Angeles County. We provide information and referrals to the services that best meet individual needs, through our 24 hour 2-1-1 call line, or through our website, text, and chat. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, 211 LA has served the people of Los Angeles County since 1981, when it was formed under the name of The Information and Referral Federation of Los Angeles (also formerly known as InfoLine). 211 LA’s services are funded through partnerships with the LA County Board of Supervisors, CEO and Departments; with contracts with the State of California, LAHSA, SoCal Gas, Southern California Edison, AARP, and others; and with grants from foundations including the National Institute of Health (NIH).

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WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
April 27, 2021

More than 62 percent of retirees think that Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA) need a guaranteed minimum, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL). In January of this year, the annual COLA raised Social Security benefits by only 1.3 percent, making it one of the lowest ever paid. But since then, “inflation has exploded,” says Mary Johnson, a Social Security policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League.

The survey, which had 1,125 participants, was conducted from mid – January through April 20, 2021, and coincided with one of the stiffest increases in inflation in a decade. Johnson researches the effect of rising prices on Social Security benefits. Through the end of December 2020, inflation as measured by the CPI-W— the index used to calculate the annual COLA — was just 1.4% for the year. “But as of the end of March 2021, the CPI-W was more than 3 percent higher than this time a year ago,” she says.

“This is a inflation pattern I haven’t seen before,” Johnson says. Inflation had completely flat – lined in first quarter of last year, which included January and February, well before COVID-19 shuttered businesses and sent the economy into a sudden tail spin in mid-March. But by the end of first quarter 2021, inflation erupted, growing by 1.4 percent versus zero over first quarter 2020. The last time inflation was growing that fast was nine years ago in 2012, but that year was also proceeded by another year of higher inflation, instead of the deflation in 2020.

“When the prices on the goods and services that retirees depend on go through the roof, their Social Security benefits don’t buy as much, and that causes enormous financial stress for all retirees. Johnson compiled a baker’s dozen list of the items whose costs are among the fastest growing. “Newly immunized grandparents will need to budget about 31.2 percent more for car rentals when visiting the grand kids,” Johnson says. “And I’m putting off replacing a failing washing machine. I don’t want to pay 24.2% more to get a new one now.”

Johnson also points out that the fastest growing cost list DOES NOT include the more usual “suspects” — prescription drugs and medical costs. “This is not because those costs didn’t increase,” Johnson says. “They just didn’t increase as much as the other items that made the list,” she says. Physician services were up 5.3 percent, but prescription drugs as measured by the CPI-W were down 2.3 percent from March 2020. Housing costs grew slightly faster than the COLA, up by 2 percent.

Fastest Growing Retiree Costs From March 2020 to March 2021

Car and truck rental – 31.2%

Laundry equipment – 24.2%

Gasoline – 22.2%

Home heating oil – 20.2%

Beef roasts – 11.2%

Pork roasts, chops – 10.5%

Citrus fruits – 9.8%

Used cars and trucks – 9.4%

Toilet paper, paper towels – 7.9%

Apples – 7.4%

Canned tuna – 7.1%

Haircuts – 5.9%

Care of invalids and elderly in home – 5.9%

Source: Consumer Price Index data, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2021

Compiled by The Senior Citizens League

The Senior Citizens League is working with Members of Congress to have legislation introduced that would strengthen Social Security benefits by tying the annual COLA to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), and by providing a guaranteed minimum COLA of no less than 3 percent.

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With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation’s largest nonpartisan seniors’ groups. Its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit http://www.SeniorsLeague.org for more information.

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