By Maya Rhodan -NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — — Whites had an average wealth of $632,000 in 2010 while Blacks had about $98,000 and Hispanics had $110,000, according to a recent study by the Urban Institute.

“Such great wealth disparities help explain why many middle-income Blacks and Hispanics haven’t seen much improvement in their relative economic status and, in fact, are at greater risk of sliding backwards,” the report says.

Blacks start out at a disadvantage.

Whites begin with about 3.5-4 times more wealth than their Black and Hispanic counterparts in their “wealth-building years,” defined as 32 to 40 years old. By age 60, the wealth of whites increases to seven times the amount of wealth Blacks are able to accrue over the same amount of time.

Levels of homeownership and retirement savings are shown to contribute to the differences in wealth among races. In 2010, less than half of Black families owned homes, while more than three quarters of white families did.

Algernon Austin, director of the program on race, ethnicity, and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute, says that Blacks were more likely to have loss their homes during the recession because they couldn’t keep up with ballooning mortgage payments.

“What we’ve seen recently is a dramatic loss of wealth for African Americans because there has been a dramatic loss of homeownership,” Austin explains. “Blacks were more likely to be given high-priced sub prime loans and were hit much harder by unemployment. Both factors—more loans, losing a job– makes it more difficult to keep up with mortgage payments.”

The recession has had a dire impact on the wealth of all Americans, with Hispanic families reporting their wealth declined by 40 percent between 2007-2010, according to the report. Blacks experienced a 31 percent decline while whites’ wealth declined by 11 percent.

Austin calls the loss of wealth experienced by the Black community a “symptom of high levels of unemployment and low wages, but particularly unemployment.”

Today, 27 percent of Blacks live in poverty. In March 2013, Blacks experienced an unemployment rate of 13.3 percent, compared to the national rate of 7.6 percent.

“Homeownership is a really important factor in terms of wealth, but so is unemployment,” Austin says. “If you’re going through frequent spells of unemployment, you’re either going to be losing wealth or going into debt.”

He adds, “The issue of jobs and income are important to address. The higher your income, the easier it is for you to build wealth. The government needs to enact policies that allow for Blacks to get greater income and get better job opportunities.”

Blacks represent about 11 percent of the total workforce, but 14 percent of the poverty-wage workforce, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

According to the Urban Institute findings, Black families saw the most dramatic decrease in their retirement assets, experiencing a 35 percent decline in retirement savings between 2007-2010.

“This finding is consistent with research that suggests lower income families are more likely to withdraw money from retirement savings after a job loss or other adverse event,” according to the Urban Institute report. “The high rates of unemployment and other financial needs that took hold with the Great Recession appear to have led to larger declines in retirement savings for Black families.”

While the Great Recession can account for much of the loss of wealth, there are other contributing factors to African Americans’ low-wealth, including policies designed to help Americans accrue wealth and policies aimed at low-income families, a large proportion of whom are African-American.

“There’s lots that the federal government does that if it was targeted to lower income Americans it could impact the wealth gap, “ Austin adds. “However, unfortunately, it’s a difficult battle because current policies benefit people who have significant political power and influence.”

In 2009, the federal government spent about $384 billion on policies that help families buy homes, start businesses, put their children through college, and retire.

Many of these policies, however, are administered through the tax code and “subsidize wealth building for the wealthiest among us, rewarding them for the size of their homes and investment portfolios,” according to a 2010 report by the Corporation for Enterprise Development titled “Upside Down: The $400 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget.”

“The federal asset building budget provides a variety of things—opportunities for families to buy homes, start businesses, and prepare for retirement,” says Jermie Greer, the director of government affairs for CFED. “Yet, this $400 billion budget is skewed to benefit the very wealthy.”

According to the report, a middle-class family making $50,000 annually receives less than $500 in benefits from federal asset building policies, while families that make $100,000 receive $2,000 in benefits.

Tax payers who make in excess of $1 million, however, can see more than $92,000 in asset building support through mortgage and property tax deductions and investment tax breaks. Over half of the nearly $400 billion in benefits, according to the report, goes to the top five percent of tax payers.

“Conversation around tax reform so often focuses on the relationship between revenues for deficit reduction, but missed the mark on what is the social policy we want to address through the tax code,” Greer says.

“They can take some of the tax benefits that go to the very wealthy and bring them back down to people that are trying to build wealth and scratch their way out of poverty,” Greer adds.

Most lower- and middle-income families use homeownership to build wealth. In fact, homeownership accounts for the largest proportion of wealth among lower and middle-income households.

Yet, homeowners with lower incomes often don’t receive enough of a deduction to make a difference. According to the CFED report, nearly 80 percent of the value of mortgage and property tax deductions went to the top 20 percent of taxpayers.

“Social policy is really focused on income and the income people earn,” Greer says. “While people need jobs and it’s important that people are able to earn income, but that’s not the only piece of puzzle when you think about wealth.”

“We need to think not only about income, but providing benefits and incentives that help people build wealth through starting businesses, buying homes, being protected from predatory lenders.”

For low-income families in particular, federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, help ensure families have basic necessities, but don’t assist in helping to develop economically stable households.

“Many safety net programs even discourage saving: Families can become ineligible if they have a few thousand dollars in savings,” he Urban Institute report says.

Individuals who receive benefits from assistance programs can only have savings that equal up to $2,000 before risking losing their benefits. States currently have the flexibility to wave these limits, which keep people from accumulating money that can help them start a business or build wealth that can lead them out of poverty.

Thirty-six states currently waive limits to the SNAP and Temporary Assistance to Needed Families programs.

There are also programs, such as the Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), which helps low- to moderate-income families purchase homes, that can help low-income families build wealth through homeownership, but the programs received less funding than low-income rental programs in 2010.

Austin says that through implementing more policies that benefit a wider range of people from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, we could begin to see the wealth gap “start shrinking instead of watching it grow.”

“It’s possible to prevent [the wealth gap] from growing larger and even shrinking it, but none of the policies that will ensure that will happen by themselves,” Austin says. “With all of these things, they aren’t likely to happen overnight.”

This article was originally published in the May 13, 2013 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

By Christopher R. Stone, Op-Ed

Connecticut’s flagship University is blessed with a top-notch faculty, cutting edge research facilities, stand-out sports, dedicated administrative staff, and an intelligent, enthusiastic student population; but it needs sustained, reliable public utilities to sustain itself.   It needs water.

That’s why the plan to have the Metropolitan District (MDC) provide much needed water to the University of Connecticut in Storrs is a win-win. Despite UConn’s effective conservation efforts in recent years, its water supply cannot meet either its present or future needs.

Fortunately, the MDC has both quality and quantity of water to offer.  Serving the communities of the Greater Hartford region – 400,000 people in 11 towns – with abundant, clean and reliable drinking water, the MDC is perfectly-suited to respond to the diminishing supply and dire need of the University and the Town of Mansfield.

Water is surely a scarce and precious resource across the country.  But in this region, geography, technology and foresight has placed the MDC in an enviable position. The numbers tell the story.

Total water consumption by MDC customers has gone from approximately 66 million gallons per day in 1988 to just under 49 million gallons per day now. Water-efficient washing machines use only 10 gallons of water per load as opposed to the 40 gallons used by older models.  Shower heads have decreased flows.  Toilets use less water.  Industrial facilities are using recycled water for manufacturing purposes.

The bottom line – the MDC has more than 12 million gallons of drinking water per day within its existing reservoir system available to meet the current and future needs of its existing customer base and other areas of the State where water supply is scarce. Why not step up to help?

As the owner, and arguably trustee, of the state’s largest reservoir system, the MDC was obliged to respond to the request to submit a proposal to share a small portion of this valuable natural resource while preserving the treasured Farmington River. The MDC option to respond to our state’s flagship university balances this commitment with the desire to stabilize water rates by expanding the customer base.  Unfortunately, the common sense facts have not detracted our critics from casting doubts on an otherwise solid plan.

The MDC has developed two alternative plans to bring up to 5 million gallons per day of water to Storrs and Mansfield from the terminus of the distribution system in East Hartford.  With either plan, there will be absolutely no detrimental effect on the Farmington River (West or East Branch) or the Farmington River Watershed Basin.

Also eclipsed in the unnecessary acrimony is the fact that this is not the first time the MDC has sought to expand its client base by selling excess capacity.  Just over a decade ago, there was an MDC proposal to sell water to Portland.  Initially, vocal critics stepped forward.  Ultimately, however, cooler heads prevailed, the critics withdrew their opposition, and Portland became an MDC customer.

Some individuals have suggested that rather than share its designated drinking water resources with a state institution and fellow municipality in need, the MDC should simply dump any excess drinking water into the Farmington River. Practically, dumping five million gallons of water a day into a river with flows of between 400 and 1200 million gallons of water per day is inconsequential.  From a public policy standpoint, why lose perfectly good drinking water when there are communities in need?

HARTFORD – Foodshare Walk Against Hunger on Monday declared its 30^th annual walkathon a tremendous success,  with perfect spring weather and more than 4,000 walkers in attendance.

Organizers said there was seemingly  a record-breaking amount of money raised for hungry families in the Hartford region.  The Walk featured activities for children, representatives from various partners and sponsors of the Walk, music and dancing, and speeches by prominent supporters.

Among this year’s speakers was Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman, who is also the honorary chair of Foodshare’s new comprehensive campaign to expand its facilities and programs.

“It is indeed inspiring to stand here today,” Wyman said, “and see so many people from so many backgrounds coming together to help their neighbors in need. This is the kind of spirit that makes Connecticut the greatest state in the country.”

Wyman was joined on stage by Cheryl Chase, representing the Chase Family Foundations, which have again this year offered the Chase Challenge, matching the first 50 teams to raise $600 for the Walk.

In addition, there were comments from Foodshare President & CEO Gloria McAdam; and Andy Napoli, the President of Consumer Markets for the Hartford, which again hosted the Walk in Hartbeat Park.

At press time on Monday, the Walk raised $553,000 toward its $625,000 goal.  Officials expressed optimism that the Walk would exceed its goal with donations that continue to arrive after the event.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the turnout and the generosity of the people who participated,” said Foodshare President Gloria McAdam. “But we aren’t done yet. Any teams or walkers who have not yet turned in their pledges should do so right away, so the final tally can be made and we can put these funds to work to help our hungry neighbors.”

BLOOMFIELD — Digiplex, a movie theater company, recently announced that it will have movie releases in Spanish.

The Spanish-speaking community in the Greater Hartford area can now trek to Digiplex Bloomfield Cinema in the Wintonbury Mall at 863 Park Avenue in Bloomfield.

A Digiplex spokesperson said  a the company is “taking full advantage of new technologies to serve diverse audiences and present an expanding array of entertainment options.”

Digiplex has already leveraged digital technology to present entertainment alternatives ranging from live sporting events including the  Mayweather vs. Guerrero match live from Las Vegas on May 4, an exclusive engagement of ultra-marathon documentary Running America to Broadway shows and opera from The Met. Now, the same technology is being harnessed to present mainstream movies in different languages.

The first movie in Spanish at Digiplex is IRON MAN 3 starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow with shows on May 6 and 13. The next features include STAR TREK – INTO DARKNESS on May 20 and the animated family feature EPIC on May 27. Upcoming titles appearing in the series include Man of Steel, World War Z and The Lone Ranger. Additional titles will be announced throughout the summer as they become available. Movies will blend Spanish audio tracks or subtitles, enabling speakers of both languages to follow the story lines.

Bud Mayo, the Company’s President and CEO said Bloomfield is the newest addition to Digiplex  in California and Pennsylvania and that  these movies will give multi-generational families the opportunity to enjoy motion picture entertainment together by bridging language gaps.

It is also good for students of Spanish, who are native English speakers if they are looking for a new and engaging way to improve their skills.

HARTFORD – Congressman John B. Larson (D-Hartford) will host a Field Hearing of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force on May 10th at the Hartford Public School on Forrest Street

Congressman Mike Thompson (D- CA), Chairman of the Task Force, will preside over the hearing. Larson will also be joined by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Mayor of Hartford Pedro E. Segarra, Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Christina M. Kishimoto, various state and local officials and subject matter experts to discuss gun violence in Connecticut and across the nation.

The Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was created to develop new steps Congress can implement now to reduce gun violence while protecting the Second Amendment Rights of law-abiding Americans. Congressman Larson is a cosponsor of several pieces of legislation aimed at reducing gun violence, recently calling on Congress to pass expanded background checks that nearly nine in ten Americans support.

Following a brief speaking order, four separate panels of officials and experts will address the task force: Gun Violence Reduction; Urban & Gang Violence; Effective Interventions to reduce mental, emotional and behavioral disorders in young people; and School Safety.

Who:     Congressman John B. Larson

Congressman Mike Thompson, Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force

Governor Dannel P. Malloy

Mayor of Hartford Pedro E. Segarra

State Representative Steve Dargan

Hartford Police Chief James Rovella

Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Christina M. Kishimoto

Dr. Dennis Embry, Paxis Institute

Reverend Michael Williams, Regional Director, CT Department of Children & Families

Dr. Patrick Nickoletti, Professor of Human Development, University of St. Joseph’s

Dr. Harold Schwartz, Institute of Living

Joseph Sikora, Security Chief, Hartford Public Schools

Members of the First Congressional Youth Cabinet

What:   Field Hearing of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force with Congressman Larson & Congressman Thompson

Where: Law & Government Academy, Hartford High School, 55 Forest Street, Hartford, CT 06105

HARTFORD – The City of Hartford will soon receive a $2 million grant from the state to assist with environment remediation and reuse of an old abandoned building.

That’s according to State Sen. John Fonfara (D-Hartford), who joined Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra on Thursday to visit the former Capewell Horse Nail Factory in Hartford and discuss new plans for renovating the site.

The Capewell Horse Nail Factory building is a landmark in Hartford, and many residents want to see it restored, city officials said.

“This has been a priority for many in this neighborhood and across the city for some time,” Fonfara said. “This building was once a center for employment and production. Now it will have a future in retail and housing, helping to improve the community and grow this neighborhood.”

Located in the Sheldon-Charter Oak neighborhood on the corner of Charter Oak Avenue and F. J. Popieluszko Court, the former factory has been unoccupied for almost thirty years. The non-profit Corporation for Independent Living is working to secure the building from current owner Boxer Properties.

Near-term plans call for environmental remediation of the site, to be followed by future rehabilitation of the existing structure. The building’s interior could then be redesigned to create approximately ninety housing units and 35,000 square feet of retail space.

By Juan Rocha,  New America Media

In December of 2001, an unknown law professor named Barack Obama lectured on the Civil War Amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments) to his law school students at the University of Chicago. As he explained how the Civil War Amendments redefined the social contract by transforming former slaves, who were considered three-fifths of a person under the original Constitution, into citizens of the United States, and placed the Union on a path to being a more progressive nation, I, who sat in the audience, began to think that my own transformation from illegal immigrant to United States citizen was the result of a similar reconstruction when President Ronald Reagan and Congress passed the Immigration Reform Act of 1986. More than a quarter of a century after that 1986 act, the country is once again at the precipice of defining who is in and who is out.

The political discourse surrounding immigration reform is about political expediency—Republicans need to recruit Hispanics to the Republican Party—; the economic benefits of immigration, and, of course, border security. (In fact, the bill is titled, “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Modernization Act.”) And when policymakers in Washington refer to the 1986 reform, they remark that it failed in all three categories. The current bill, with its mathematical formulas and percentages, reflects a Congress not wanting to repeat the mistakes of 1986.

But in deciding who can fully share in the American experience, a key question missing in the immigration debate is: what kind of citizens can immigration policy cultivate? From this perspective, the 1986 act was a success and should be seen a standard, not a cautionary tale of passing immigration reform; because it produced hundreds of thousands of students like me — was 12 when I received amnesty– who not only benefited immensely from immigration reform, but later contributed to the life of our communities.

The Immigration Reform Act of 1986 allowed me to skip a generation in my education. Both of my grandmothers were illiterate, my mother, who finished the second grade, could barely write her name, and my father completed only the sixth grade. Against this educational background, and having no legal status, I would have been lucky to graduate from high school. Becoming a legal resident and eventually a United States citizen, however, made me eligible for federal student aid, and enabled me to attend Arizona State University.

In college, I met students from different socio-economic backgrounds who taught me, among other things, not to protect my family from my own ambition, a quiet sacrifice performed by Hispanics students for the sake of the family. College was a microcosm of American society. The knowledge I received from fellow students reshaped my perception of the world, and was central to my personal growth.

Instead of feeling campus alienation—which is something many students without legal status experience in school—college encouraged me to leave the nest. Armed with an American passport, I globe-trotted around the world where I learned of different ethical, religious, and intellectual ways of seeing the world. I also learned about how other people perceived the same world. (In Thailand I learned that Thais think of people from Mexico as elite athletes.) For fear of being arrested by Border Patrol and removed from the country, such mobility was a foreign concept to my family. Before being granted legal status, we never left Mesa, Arizona. I now understand that immobility not only prevents a person from understanding how people come at life from different places, but, more important, leads to societal incest, which contributes to nativism.

Cross-pollinating from American city to foreign country, from foreign country to the university, and from the university to American city, I returned to Arizona to engage in civic life on my own terms; I founded a scholarship, which I named after two of my public school teachers, who were instrumental in my educational development, which I give to a first-generation high-school student attending a four-year university; I use my law degree to teach young people about the American judicial system; and write essays on public policy. Civic engagement, in short, is the bridge that connects my life experiences to ideas on how to improve my community. The 1986 act had the design of responsibility and the stamp of civic duty.

American society has changed demographically and technologically since 1986, but one precept that remains constant is the rights and duties each of us has to one another; in this regard, the 1986 reform succeeded in engendering an active citizenry. When President Obama signs the immigration bill into law (I’m an optimist), he will not need to refer to Nineteenth Century American history to remind us of this principle, he will simply need to point out to the immigrants, who are now Americans, in the audience who embody this principle.

Juan Rocha is a criminal defense attorney in Tucson and holds a JD from UCLA and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

STORRS, CT – The University of Connecticut will award approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate diplomas during 12 separate commencement exercises taking place on the Storrs campus during the weekend of May 11-12, 2013.  Separate ceremonies will be held on May 13 for the Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine, and on May 19 for the School of Law.

HONORARY DEGREES

The university is awarding eight honorary degrees to individuals who have shown leadership in their chosen fields.

They are: Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Corp. who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters  degree and who will deliver the graduate ceremony commencement address; Wally Lamb, author, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and  who will deliver the commencement address at the Neag School of Education; Dr. Ferid Murad, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree and who will speak during the Health Center commencement,  and Jerry Adler, actor and director who will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree and who will deliver the commencement address at the School of Fine Arts.

Also, Charles Zwick, philanthropist and former director of the Federal Office of Management and Budget who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree and who will serve as keynote speaker at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources commencement, and Elizabeth Shanahan, executive director and CEO for the Society of Women Engineers who will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the School of Engineering where she will deliver the commencement address.

Gary Bailey, internationally recognized leader in the field of social work, and Lyudmila Harutyunyan, known as the ‘mother of Armenian social work’ will each receive  honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees during a special ceremony sponsored by the School of Social Work on May 11.

HARTFORD – By ANN-MARIE MESQUITA, Staff Writer

As the deadline to fully implement the Affordable Care Act nears, health care professionals gathered in Hartford on Monday to unpack mountains of data wrapped in regulations attached to the first major overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since 1965.

This Act, also known as “Obamacare,” became a reality when President Barack Obama signed it into law on March 23, 2010. If implemented thoroughly, the Act would expand healthcare access and increase health coverage, key components to mitigate health disparities, experts say.

Enrollment for the program is set to begin Oct. 1, 2013. Medical coverage is to begin Jan. 1, 2014.

Some contend this Act could significantly address health disparities.

“I think it could have a major impact of health disparities because proportionally to the population, individuals who are more likely to be affected by the Affordable Care Act are people of color,” said Dennis P. Andrulis, a senior research scientist at the Texas Health Institute. Andrulis was one of about 200 public health researchers, policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders who attended the Institute of Medicine’s daylong conference entitled, Achieving Health Equity via the Affordable Care Act: Promises, Provisions, and Making Reform a Reality for Diverse Patients, at the Mark Twain House on April 22.

Of the 6.8 million newly eligible Medicaid recipients, about 45 percent would be people of color, a figure that mirrors the demographics in the country. Consequently, more than 60 provisions in the ACA are related to race, ethnicity, language and cultural competency to reduce disparities in urban and rural America, Andrulis said.

The work to see this ACT implemented, which will cost $5.1 billion, includes community outreach. It also includes materials to be developed for people with limited English proficiencies, low medical literacy and low reading skills. And already resistance, manifested at various levels, has begun.

In Texas, Andrulis said, discussions are centered on how to navigate the penalties for opting out.  Already, 14 states have opted out. And 12 states are undecided. Since it was signed into law, the U.S. House Republicans voted 39 times to repeal Obamacare. In the coming months, health advocates expect there will be persistent attempts by conservatives to dilute the potential of the law. Of course, Andrulis said, it’s in the Obama administration’s best interest to ensure effective implementation of this act.

To implement this sweeping act, it will be necessary to engage communities at the grassroots level, said U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-1st), who with Gov. Dannel Malloy and Lt. Nancy Wyman gave opening remarks at the daylong conference.

Connecticut is one of several states that have already opted in and have begun to expand Medicaid. Malloy said that the legislature has just started deliberating over this ”monumental task” of expanding access by setting up health care marketplace to sell insurance to about 242,000 uninsured people in Connecticut.

Part of delivering services to traditionally underserved population also includes diversify the workforce that serves them. Groups such as Access Health CT have also begun that process, according to Access CEO Kevin J. Counihan.

It’s uncertain, however, how much progress has been made toward implementing networks to engage health consumers in Connecticut. But officials said they are working to ensure health equity, a term bandied about by stakeholders.

And what exactly is health equity?

According to Medical Director of Community Benefit at Kaiser Permanente Winston F. Wong, health equity is the proposition that people in the United States should achieve optimum health without barriers related to their social status, such as income, race, ethnicity, immigration, sexual orientation and other social factors.

Such has been the case for decades, said Wong.

“If you look at the mortality among African American men, their risk ratio is 1.8 times that of their white male counterpart,” he said. “And that pattern has been there for more than 50 years. So we haven’t actually made much progress, particularly around African American males.”

Wong added that with the growing Asian and Latino populations, there is also a reflection of continued disparities, such as diabetes among Hispanics. According to a recent report, up to 50 percent of Hispanics will develop diabetes in the next generation.

So between now and October, there is an emphasis on reaching these population with new information that would help mitigate acute health disparities.

Ignatius Bau, a health researcher, and other health advocates said officials at the top must have meaningful engagement with communities of color, to not just tack their logos on websites as “nice partners” but to also provide significant financial support to have impact. Additionally, there needs to be robust efforts to inform these communities in a timely manner, not close to major deadlines.

Bau also suggested that to truly address the existing health disparities among patient centered health homes and clinics, state officials and other high-level stakeholders should consider the following recommendations:

• Educate and engage diverse and vulnerable patients, families, caregivers about medical homes
• —Sponsors/payers for medical home initiatives can highlight opportunities for disparities reduction/health equity, including additional requirements and payments
• —Monitor standards specific to health equity for compliance and improvement
• Develop and disseminate technical assistance to medical home practices  on achieving health equity

HARTFORD – Congressman John B. Larson will host a community forum on Social Security and Medicare on April 28 at the Glastonbury Riverfront Community Center.

These programs are a lifeline for millions of Americans, providing both income and health services that otherwise would be unavailable or unaffordable. Congressman Larson will discuss how we pay into Social Security and Medicare, and how Congressional action could impact these crucial programs.

Judith Stein of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, recently named to the Long-Term Care Commission for her knowledge and experience with beneficiaries, will also join the discussion. Those who attend will have an opportunity to ask questions throughout the forum. The event is free and open to the public.

Who:     Congressman John B. Larson

Judith Stein, Center for Medicare Advocacy

What:   Social Security and Medicare Community Forum
Where: Glastonbury Riverfront Community Center (Community Room) 300 Welles Street, Glastonbury CT 06033

When:  Sunday, April 28^th, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.