A Lifetime Commitment to Community Service

Source: AARP Press Center | March 4, 2005

Jerry Florence
Group Executive Officer, Membership and Director of the AARP Foundation
The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Annual Conference

Good afternoon brothers and friends. It's always a good time to be among Alphas.

This year's event theme, "A Lifetime Commitment to Community Service," speaks to our past and the spirit of our founders. Yet it also speaks to the present and future of the United States.

We all know our Alpha history, how our fraternity first served as a study and support group for minority students facing racial prejudice at Cornell in New York.

Our foundation is firmly based on the principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity.

These principles that our seven jewels established in 1906 are what bound all of them together. Those brothers encouraged one another through oppressive negativity until they graduated.

It was the exact opposite of what the handful of Black students admitted the previous year had experienced.

Without ongoing support, those students were crushed by the intense racial pressure and never returned to earn degrees.

But the Alpha founders not only graduated, they each went on 'to be somebody,' and have an impact on their world—our world.

What they did in looking out for each other and other minority students, was community service at the highest level.

I'm very proud to be a part of the Alpha brotherhood —committed to serving the community at work and at home.

In the same way, I'm proud of my current workplace—AARP—where I am Associate Executive Director for Membership and Director of the AARP Foundation.

Community service is at the core of this organization, which is dedicated to serving people over age 50 and their families.

Serving those most at social and economic risk.

This year, AARP's greatest advocacy and service effort is focused on Social Security. After 70 years, it's still the most successful domestic program in U.S. history.

Even so, there's been talk about Social Security shortchanging Blacks, Hispanics, and women. Nothing could be further from the truth.

At the center of this debate are private accounts.

So I want to explain why Social Security is so important—especially to our community and not just the older members—and why radical privatization proposals are dangerous, expensive and unnecessary- and simply a Bad Deal!

Over the years, Social Security has been critical to the African American community.

It's the only guaranteed, inflation-proof, lifelong benefit that millions of workers—present and future—can depend on.

The Social Security promise of 1935 embodies the deepest values of all Americans. And that promise has endured for 70 years.

African Americans, on average, rely on Social Security for almost half of their total retirement income. It represents nearly 57 percent of income for African-American women over 65.

Did you know that the poverty rate for all older women would jump from 12 percent to over 50 percent without Social Security? It's even higher if we're only talking about Black women.

One of every three African Americans would have no retirement income without Social Security. For that segment of our community and many other older Americans, Social Security is all that stands between them and poverty.

In fact, the total African American poverty rate would increase from 22 percent to more than 57 percent if there were no Social Security.

But it's not just simply a retirement program. Social Security also provides indispensable disability and survivors' benefits, which are lifelines to so many people.

The National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality did a study showing that African American boys and girls are about four times more likely to be lifted out of poverty by Social Security than white children. And disability and survivor benefits are essential for our children.

As stewards of this monumental program, we must make reforms that will strengthen Social Security, not dismantle it. We must build it up, not tear it down. And no solution should be worse than the problem.

Contrary to the rumor mill, there is no current crisis in Social Security. But a plan to divert payroll taxes from Social Security to fund private accounts would create a huge crisis.

This plan won't help the program's long-term financial solvency. It won't enhance the future retirement security of today's younger workers. In fact, it would cut guaranteed benefits.

It would also force us to borrow some $2 trillion to cover transition costs. It would mean passing the buck to our children and grandchildren; in short, future generations would foot the bill. You know, it's one thing to pass a buck—it's something else to pass 2 trillion bucks!

You begin to understand now why AARP is adamantly opposed to this idea.

Private accounts have been presented from some quarters as a kind of "free lunch," with changes to Social Security mysteriously paying for themselves.

But, remember: All that glitters is not gold. These plans could leave your children and grandchildren with more debt, less security, and quite possibly, less income. That's unacceptable—That's a Bad Deal!

AARP recently completed research showing that the more people learn about private accounts, the less they like them. More than two-thirds of African-Americans in the study opposed the idea once they learned about lower benefits and the massive burden for future generations.

Some AARP opponents say we're against private savings and the stock market. Not true. Private accounts are excellent savings tools, but in addition to Social Security, not in place of it.

Understand that despite the rhetoric coming out of Washington, Social Security is fiscally strong. Yes, it will face problems in the future if we do nothing; but the program is not in crisis today. It's not going broke.

One hundred percent of promised benefits can be paid through 2042—when the youngest of the baby boomers will be 78 years old. After that about 70 percent could be paid for many years. But that's not really keeping the promise.

There are sensible ways to ensure the program's long-term solvency without turning Social Security's guarantee into a toss of the dice.

The way we see it: if you have a problem with the sink, don't tear down the house. Here are two ideas to help reform Social Security's sink that won't destroy the program.

First, we could levy the Social Security payroll tax on the first $140,000 of annual income, instead of the current level of $90,000.

This would lower the projected shortfall by 43 percent, and the modest burden would fall on the wealthier members of society.

We could also invest Social Security Trust Funds in higher-yielding stocks to achieve greater returns than the 6 percent currently gained from Treasury bonds.

These suggestions alone could get us more than half way to achieving solvency in Social Security.

As we contemplate this debate, let's ask ourselves these questions:

As a nation that values the well-being, dignity and security of every citizen, do we really want to leave millions of older Americans to fend for themselves? And what of the children who depend on disability and survivor benefits?

Social Security should not be used as a generational wedge, pitting old against young.

Young and old alike believe in the promise of Social Security and want to preserve it.

Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935. On its third anniversary, he said:

"…In our efforts to provide security for all American people, let us not allow ourselves to be misled by those who advocate short cuts to Utopia or fantastic financial schemes."

How appropriate that statement was years ago, and still is today. Together we must strengthen Social Security for African Americans—for all Americans. And we can do this by working together.

And that brings us back to community service, which demands that we work together. AARP has volunteers across the country hosting forums to get the word out about Social Security. But that's not all they're doing.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the hats I wear at AARP is Director of our AARP Foundation. The Foundation's core is involved in community service.

For example, it's tax season, so thousands of our volunteers are providing free tax preparation assistance and advice through AARP Foundation's Tax-Aide program. And not just to seniors, but to anyone who may need it.

The AARP Foundation is AARP's affiliated charity. Foundation programs provide security, protection and empowerment for older people 50+ with emphasis to those at social and economic risk.

In addition to Tax-Aide, other Foundation programs include the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) to assist low-income over 55 in finding jobs; and the Money Management Program, which offers daily money management services to low-income elderly in Washington, DC.

Foundation litigation staff members protect the legal rights of older Americans in critical health, long-term care, and consumer and employment situations. And they do an outstanding job. Foundation programs and litigation are funded by grants, tax deductible contributions and AARP.

Others AARP volunteers are leading their peers through our driver refresher course—AARP Driver Safety—to help maintain safety on our roads.

And many of our retired teachers are mentoring our youth through after-school tutoring and other opportunities, as well as mentoring new teachers to help reverse their trend of abandoning the classroom after a few years.

Our volunteers spend time at the U.S. Capitol and state capitols across the country advocating for the needs of people over age 50—making sure older Americans are not overlooked.

We just had the Reverend Walter Fauntroy at AARP last week to help us celebrate Black History Month, and this is what he said, "AARP is one of the most important organizations for the African American community and all older Americans."

These are just a few examples of the community service at AARP that keeps me excited about the place where I work. It encourages me to work harder to reach more people.

At AARP, we believe in the power to make it better, and community service is a big part of that power and a key priority for our organization.

Let me briefly share another experience that put me on the path to volunteering and community service—in addition to my Alpha brothers, of course.

There's no question that community service matters. And I'm proud to carry on the Alpha tradition.

Let's work together to do the most that we can for those that need our help.

To quote Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for evil to progress is for good men and women to stand by and do nothing."

Well, Alpha, we have never stood by and did nothing! So as Marvin Gaye said, "Let's Get It On!"