PORTABLE RETIREMENT BENEFITS PLANNING

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The Women’s Bureau (WB), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, or the Department, or we), announces the availability of approximately $100,000 in grant funds authorized by 29 U.S.C. § 13 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, for the Women’s Bureau Portable Retirement Benefits Planning grant program. This grant program is intended to increase retirement security for low-wage workers—many of whom have never had access to retirement benefits through an employer. The grant will help nonprofit organizations (“nonprofits”) undertake certain types of program-planning activities needed to develop a portable retirement benefits program for their stakeholders or target populations. These activities must fall into one or more of the following three categories: • Assessment of the challenges and barriers unique to low-wage workers or target populations with little or no retirement savings; • Research and analysis of available opportunities and tools to expand existing or build new portable retirement savings vehicles, especially for low-wage workers or target populations; and • Research and analysis of scalable models for portable retirement benefits programs, as well as identification of legal constraints and changes to state and/or federal law that would be required in order for these models to be viable for low-wage workers or target populations. Two (2) to four (4) grants of between $25,000 and $75,000 each will be awarded. Selection of grantees will be based on the strength of the proposal, including the design, cost, innovative ideas and solutions, and ability to access relevant data to support the program.

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