The Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund (ARAEF) educates retirees about issues affecting their health and financial well-being. We also work with other nonprofit groups to raise awareness about issues that affect retirees.
Examples of our work include:
Annual Congressional Voting Record
Each year, with our partners at the Alliance for Retired Americans, we publish a voting record that scores members of Congress’ votes on key retirement security issues. The 2024 report considers 10 Senate and House floor votes, including bills to cut seniors programs, restrict worker rights, and repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO).
Social Security Fairness Act
The ARAEF worked to raise awareness about the Social Security Fairness Act, which eliminated the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions. Passed in 1983 and 1977 respectively, these provisions reduced Social Security benefits for public sector retirees with a public pension. Eliminating these provisions has restored full benefits to 2.5 million retired federal, state, and local government employees who worked as teachers, police, firefighters, postal workers and general employees. Retirees and labor allies engaged in grassroots organizing and reached out to their legislators to secure the bill’s passage. ARAEF also published a series of educational blog posts updating the public about the status of the law’s implementation.
Protecting Seniors from Investment Fraud
The Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund had a multi-year partnership with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to educate older Americans about protecting seniors from financial and investment fraud. The Ed Fund collaborated with FINRA to develop “Fighting Fraud 101” educational materials and conducted hundreds of workshops and events, reaching more than 2,000 people a year.