DEAR FRIENDS,
2019 was a banner year for AARP Foundation and for a future without senior poverty. With your generous support this past year, we took a giant step toward our vision of a country free of poverty where no older person feels vulnerable.
volunteers supported
Foundation programs
communities nationwide in which
AARP Foundation is present
people served by AARP
Foundation initiatives
in new income created by AARP Foundation workforce programs
meals packed for D.C. metro area communities to raise awareness of senior hunger
awarded in strategic grantmaking
to advance effective solutions
The challenges facing older adults cannot be solved with “business as usual” approaches. They require bold, sustainable solutions — a whole new way of thinking and responding to the growing national crisis of senior poverty. In 2019, we piloted and launched new programs across the country to help people increase their financial stability and stay connected.
Both housing security and income security come together in another new program introduced in 2019: Property Tax-Aide.
By encouraging savings even on the tightest budget, and giving clear guidance on how to get there, AARP Foundation MySavingsJar™ offers a clear path to the kind of financial resilience that can keep older adults and their families afloat in the difficult times.
Running your own business is tough enough without feeling like you're going it alone. In 2019, we launched Self-Saver™, an online tool to make planning for, saving for, and paying self-employment taxes easier.
AARP Foundation's Connect2Affect Connected Communities™ enables older adults to access community information using just their voice.
AARP Foundation's Here to Stay: Home Upkeep for All™ was developed in collaboration with The Hartford to provide cost-effective home maintenance tips and resources that make it easier for older adults to continue to live comfortably at home as they grow older.
For nearly 60 years, AARP Foundation has been fighting to improve the lives of older adults whose struggles are often hidden in plain sight. In 2019, we continued to build on proven programs and expand into new locations. Talking with communities to help uncover their challenges. Helping more people. Working to change the systemic structures that limit opportunity.
In 2019, AARP Foundation Tax-Aide's 35,000 volunteers helped more than 2.5 million taxpayers secure more than $1.6 billion in refunds. Beyond serving taxpayers across 5,000 locations, Tax-Aide also made its service even more accessible when it “hit the road” in 2019, with a Tax-Aide bus bringing the free filing service to harder-to-reach taxpayers throughout California.
In the classroom, 2,200 AARP Foundation Experience Corps volunteers helped more than 24,000 students in 321 schools and after school locations become better readers during the 2018–19 school year, while also expanding sites and features. The program established a new Atlanta site — our first in Georgia — and expanded our Arizona sites by adding Pinal–Casa Grande to the network.
The Experience Corps afterschool program expanded to 64 schools by the end of the 2018–19 school year, with 252 volunteers serving 885 students. Findings from the 2019 Experience Corps Social-Emotional Learning Evaluation show that students who participate in the program experience positive social/emotional learning outcomes, particularly in areas of personal responsibility, relationship skills, and decision making.
A lack of savings and equal access to quality financial products and services in underserved communities leaves vulnerable populations particularly ill equipped to weather unexpected emergencies and achieve lasting financial security. In 2019, AARP Foundation and Chase teamed up to address this serious issue, collaborating on a series of events, research, and educational resources designed to raise awareness and strengthen the financial health and resilience of low- to moderate-income 50+ communities.
The AARP Foundation Litigation team stands out among other legal advocacy organizations because of its close ties to the Foundation's mission. By protecting the rights and advancing the interests of low-income and vulnerable older adults, AARP Foundation attorneys tear down barriers and establish pathways to economic opportunity and social stability. In 2019, our Litigation team supported several important cases.
Nedia Castillo Cruz was 78 and blind. After Hurricane Maria devastated her home in Puerto Rico, she found out her reverse mortgage lender was going to foreclose on that home. AARP Foundation intervened. A settlement was reached (and finalized in January of 2020) to allow Ms. Cruz to continue living in the only place she knows as home.
Represented by AARP Foundation attorneys, residents of Lurie Terrace, a senior living apartment building, claimed disability discrimination by the apartment operators for threatening to evict residents they deemed unable to “live independently.” The mutually agreed settlement corrected the discriminatory requirement and had wider positive repercussions. As AARP Foundation attorney Dara Smith noted, “Lurie Terrace's policies are now an exemplary model of best practices for apartment buildings and housing providers everywhere who have tenants aging in place.”
Thank you for believing in AARP Foundation's mission and our work to end senior poverty. Your generous support in 2019 is helping ensure low-income seniors can secure the essentials.
