This chapter provides new data and a critical look at the comparative assessment of different ethnic groups’ overall levels of savings given their different experiences in the labor market. It focuses on how employers differentially treat minorities to their disadvantage with a multiple regression analysis that identifies the independent negative impact of being a minority on retirement sponsorship and pension plan participation. Minorities have lesser access to employer-sponsored retirement plans because they are particularly affected by the substitution of defined benefit (DB) plan coverage for less secure and less comprehensive defined contribution (DC) plans. Social Security is an important source of retirement income for all Americans. Minorities are disproportionately employed in lower-paid industries and occupations, which have lower rates of retirement account coverage. Qualitative research and interdisciplinary collaborative studies of minority retirement behavior have emerged.

This chapter shows the importance, for older persons, of support groups. In spite of the changes that have occurred in the American family, and all the negative things that fill the popular press concerning family relationships, the family is still the backbone of support for most older people. To some extent, the type of family support older people obtain depends on whether they are living in the community or in an institutional setting such as a group home, retirement village, or nursing facility. Whether a person is married, has great impact on that person’s support within a family setting including emotional, financial, and physical support, particularly in times of illness or infirmity. The success of a second marriage depends to a considerable extent on the reaction of the adult children of the elderly couple. Older grandparents, no matter how motivated, can find caring for grandchildren to be very tiring.

This chapter provides a review of public policy and public programs related to important aspects of the welfare state in the United States, with particular attention to the impact of various policies and programs related to income support, health care, and housing on low-income and minority Americans. It focuses on the guiding principles that motivate the various parties in today’s welfare state debates and investigate how the basic structure of the way social welfare is guaranteed in the United States affects low-income and minority individuals. The chapter also focuses on the general features of our economic, political, and social systems that place minority Americans at serious risk of poverty and ill health throughout life, including its waning years. The welfare state represents a relatively late development in human social, economic, and political history. Social Security is particularly important for minority Americans.

This chapter focuses on how nonprofit leaders can become nonprofit advocates. It provides an overview of the legal guidelines that govern nonprofit lobbying. The chapter details the process of developing a policy agenda, learning the legislative landscape, and executing the agenda. It reviews the tactics of effective lobbying, such as working in coalitions, meeting with lawmakers, and cultivating relationships with legislative allies. The chapter then presents case studies that describe the advocacy process that went into the expansion of the role of nurse practitioners as primary care providers and the expansion of the retail-based convenient care clinic model. It explores case study that discusses an assessment process on which advocacy for college access and success systems change can be built. The chapter examines how nonprofits can shape legislation by lobbying elected officials in ways that are in keeping with the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) definitions and requirements.

This chapter focuses on federal policy and provides information on how to access local state policies pertaining to kinship care. Also, attention is devoted to illustrating different strategies that can be used to incentivize states’ use and support of kinship caregivers. The chapter presents a policy analysis framework to guide readers in approaching a critical analysis of federal policies and their effect on kinship caregivers. Federal and state policies can influence the extent to which state-level programming is geared toward establishing and supporting curative relationships for children by supporting their caregivers. A policy advocacy approach that promotes relationship building for children in kinship care is offered. The chapter considers the social and environmental conditions that have led to high rates of nonparental care, the economic impact, and the related political and policy response.

Divorce, cohabitation, remarriage, serial romantic partnerships, and living apart together have been relatively common among these older age groups. Stepfamily research has expanded in recent decades, but most of the focus has been on younger stepfamilies, with primary emphasis placed on relationships between stepparents and stepchildren or remarried spouses. Initially, Ganong and Coleman identified three structural pathways to becoming a stepgrandparent: a younger adult could (re)marry a parent with young children or adolescents who would grow up to become parents themselves as adults; an older adult could (re)marry a grandparent; and an older individual’s adult child could (re)marry a person who brings to the union children from a prior relationship. Given that parents often tend to mediate the relationships among grandparents and grandchildren, it is not surprising that parents’ divorce affects grandparent–grandchild relationships. It is somewhat surprising that few researchers have examined divorce by grandparents.

Despite the growing attention in the literature addressing the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender (LBGT) youth and family acceptance, few researchers are examining these experiences in the relational context of being a grandchild or how grandparent–grandchild relationships enhance or hinder LGBT grandchildren’s experiences, especially when grandchildren disclose their sexual orientation to grandparents. This chapter discusses the important theoretical lenses used to understand and aids the study of LGB grandparenthood and reviews the literature on LGB grandparenthood and when grandchildren identify as lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LBGTQ). Perhaps more importantly to the advancement of the literature on LGB grandparenting, the chapter provides recommendations for future research on grandparenthood in the context of sexual orientation, and hopes that discussion is a call to action for family scientists, gerontologists, psychologists, and sociologists to closely examine grandparenthood when grandparents, grandchildren, or grandchildren’s parents identify as LGBTQ.

Adult education is available in many communities. These opportunities are welcome, although courses rarely focus on family relationships, the topic that has the highest priority among grandparents. An intergenerational strategy is lacking that would allow parents of grandchildren, and the grandchildren, to identify content they think could help grandparents understand younger relatives. This chapter describes the origins of grandparent education and a measurement tool that allows three generations to evaluate strengths, learning needs, and growth of grandparents. It briefly describes an inclusive plan to ensure grandparents living in care facilities have access to instruction, feedback on learning, and opportunity to engage in community service. The chapter respects for cultural differences based on identification of curriculum themes that match the uniqueness of particular populations. It provides a revised emphasis for adult education that focuses on family relationships, the topic with highest priority among grandparents.

Public policy bearing the labels of elder rights and elder justice is scant and only recently appeared on the scene. The terms “elder rights” and “elder justice” have been largely appropriated by the field of elder abuse, which has applied them narrowly to policies and programs that address elder and dependent adult abuse and mistreatment. But “aging policy” in the United States is grounded in social justice principles and goals. This explains how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Supplemental Security, the Older Americans Act, and the Elder Justice Act have advanced individual rights and social justice. It also explores how discrimination against older people has been addressed, explicitly, through measures like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and by policies that protect older people as members of other groups. This includes laws and regulations that protect people with disabilities, residents of institutions, consumers, crime victims, prison inmates, and others.