Helping Middle-Class Families Pursue Justice

Posted by White House

This morning, the Vice President spoke at a Middle Class Task Force Event that was co-hosted by the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative. He announced new steps that our Administration is taking in partnership with the legal community to strengthen foreclosure mediation programs, help veterans cope with legal challenges, and make it easier for workers to find a qualified attorney when they believe their rights have been violated.

First, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the American Bar Association (ABA) are launching a new partnership to help workers resolve complaints received by DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, such as not getting paid the minimum wage or overtime, or being wrongfully denied family medical leave. DOL resolves more than 20,000 of these complaints every year, but because of limited resources, there are thousands more they are unable to pursue. Starting next month, people whose cases cannot be pursued will be provided with a newly created toll-free number that will connect them with an ABA-approved attorney referral service so they can find a qualified lawyer to help with their claims.

Second, the Vice President announced a collaboration between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In communities across the country, the VA’s Vet Centers provide counseling services to combat veterans. We are now connecting more than 50 of these Vet Centers with the LSC’s network of local legal aid offices, which provide free legal advice to folks who can’t afford to hire a lawyer. So when veterans come to Vet Centers and need help with problems ranging from foreclosure to employment issues, the staff will know where to send them.

The Legal Services Corporation also announced the launch of a new website – www.statesidelegal.org. This website is designed specifically for veterans and their families and they will be able to find information on everything from estate planning to disability benefits to the GI Bill.

Finally, the Vice President announced new steps to strengthen foreclosure mediation programs, which allow homeowners to meet face-to-face with lenders and discuss alternatives to foreclosure under the supervision of a neutral third-party mediator. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Access to Justice Initiative issued a report on mediation strategies that are working. In addition to outlining some best practices, the report includes a list of jurisdictions with successful programs that are eager to share their experiences with communities that are developing or expanding mediation programs.

HUD and NeighborWorks, the nation’s largest funder of foreclosure counseling services, also announced that they will each be providing new training for housing counselors, homeowners, attorneys, and mediators in order to make mediation programs even more effective.

As the Vice President said today, “In difficult economic times, we want to make sure all Americans—regardless of income or status—have access to the resources they need to pursue justice.”

Strengthening an Emerging Industry While Helping Families Save Money

Posted by White House

Last fall, the Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality released a report called Recovery Through Retrofit, which identified the key barriers standing in the way of strong and sustainable home energy-efficiency industry. For the past year, we have been working with our partners across the federal government to address these barriers, and today, the Vice President announced three new initiatives that will grow this industry and help middle-class families save money on their energy bills.

First, homeowners don’t have access to clear and reliable information about their home’s energy performance and how to improve it. So today, the Department of Energy announced a program called Home Energy Score. Using a new software tool, trained contractors will be able to go through a house in an hour or less and generate a report with two critical components:

• First, an easy to understand graphic showing where the home’s energy performance rates on a scale of 1 to 10 and how that score compares to other homes in the area. It’s like a miles-per-gallon label for your house.
• Second, a customized list of recommended improvements, with information on how much the homeowner’s energy bill would be reduced by each change.

To see a sample Home Energy Score, click here.

Homeowners armed with this information will be motivated to invest in energy upgrades. But even for motivated homeowners, there simply aren’t enough consumer-friendly financing options. That’s the second big barrier and that’s why the Department of Housing and Urban Development has created a new program called PowerSaver to connect more homeowners with affordable, federally-insured loans for home energy upgrades. This federal insurance is the key because it will draw private lenders in off the sidelines. PowerSaver loans will have interest rates as low or lower than comparable financing options, and they will be more widely available because of the added incentive for lenders.

Finally, homeowners investing in a retrofit want to be sure that the work will be done right and produce the expected savings. So the Department of Energy, the Department of Labor and other agencies worked closely with industry experts to draft a comprehensive set of workforce guidelines that are being released today. Training providers can use the guidelines to strengthen existing courses or develop new ones.

More and better training options will lead to a stronger workforce and greater consumer confidence. And more consumer confidence leads to more demand for home energy upgrades, which leads to new jobs and more savings for middle-class families.

For more information on all these new initiatives, click here.

Giving You the Information You Need to Make Good Retirement Choices

Posted by White House

Every working American deserves access to the information he or she needs to make good decisions about how to save for retirement. It’s that simple.

That’s why we here at the Middle Class Task Force are excited that today, the Department of Labor is announcing new rules that will help make this principle a reality by requiring 401(k) providers to disclose key information to plan participants about their fees and expenses. It also makes sure that plan providers present investment options in a clear, apples-to-apples way that will help the 72 million participants in 401(k)-style retirement plans make better choices. It’s a common-sense step toward improving the retirement security of American workers, and it’s one we should all be able to get behind.

Retirement security has been one of the Middle Class Task Force’s top priorities since day one. When the President created the Task Force less than two weeks after he took office, retirement security was one of the topics he explicitly assigned us to focus on.

So we’ve been working on ways to strengthen the retirement security of American workers ever since. When we released our first annual report earlier this year, we wrote about a number of retirement security proposals, including an idea for helping workers automatically save money in Individual Retirement Accounts; an improved tax credit for retirement savings; and a set of new regulations to improve the transparency and reliability of 401(k)s.

The fee disclosure rule that our Administration is announcing today is one key piece of that agenda. By requiring 401(k) providers to disclose their fees and expenses to the workers who use their products to save for retirement, this rule will bring more transparency to the system and make sure workers know what they’re getting.

And by giving workers the information they need to be better-informed consumers of retirement savings products, the rule will help ensure that their retirement savings aren’t eroded by high fees and expenses, so they can get the most out of every dollar they put away.

We’ll keep working on new ways to strengthen retirement security for American workers. But today, we’re happy that this Administration is taking one more step to give you the tools you need to make informed choices about how to save for the retirement you deserve.

Community Colleges: The Backbone of Our Public Workforce System

Posted by White House

The White House Summit on Community Colleges on October 5th is exciting for so many reasons. For those of us who have spent decades in education, it's the first time that community colleges have been recognized at a presidential level. And more importantly, it is being hosted by Dr. Jill Biden, a stellar educator who has chosen to proudly be community college faculty. For a recovering teacher it doesn't get much better than that.

So why would we at the Department of Labor be so excited about a Community College Summit? Our system of Career One Stop Centers are a great resource to help guide workers towards new career pathways and to help them find future employment, but the community colleges are the backbone of our public workforce system. Through our close partnerships with the community college system, we prepare our workforce for lucrative job opportunities that can lead to life-long careers in high growth and emerging industries such as healthcare, technology and clean energy.

For example, this year alone, we awarded $125 million in Community-Based Job Training Grants to 41 community colleges and organizations across the country. Our goal through those grants is to help workers prepare for and secure good jobs. More than 156,474 individuals have received education and training through these grants. Community colleges are helping get America back to work.

To put these CBJT grants in perspective, here are a handful of local examples of how through our partnerships with community colleges, local participants are benefitting from new job skills and already finding jobs: Navarro College in Texas has teamed with North Central Texas College to create a program that will educate, train, and certify skilled workers for the Texas energy industry. Over 1,300 individuals have received training through this grant, and over 550 have entered employment. And at Saint Paul College (MN), workers are preparing for employment in clinical laboratory and medical lab technician occupations. To date, 510 participants have enrolled in training, and 106 have entered employment. And there are so many more.

Our community colleges are as diverse as the communities they serve -but they are all committed to helping this country reach the President's goal of at least one year of post-secondary education for everyone. Their proven track record in offering state of the art industry recognized credentials and a variety of degrees make them the logical choice for job seekers and employers who are looking for high quality academic and occupational training.

On October 5th we will hear about the promising work of those in attendance, but it's important that we learn from more than just those in DC. Anyone who wants to participate can go to www.WhiteHouse.gov/communitycollege to post a comment, send in a video, or ask a question.

We've also created a special online White House forum for others to participate during the summit, and will be live-streaming the opening and closing sessions.

The Department of Labor and the Department of Education have partnered on a number of important initiatives in this Administration, but none is better than our work with community colleges. Getting all students the quality education that they need to achieve their dreams of degree attainment and a solid career is a shared goal of our departments. The White House Summit on Community Colleges is a fantastic step to move our nation toward that goal!

Getting Ready For Summit Day

Posted by White House

I can’t believe that our Community College summit is right around the corner.

The team here at the White House, along with colleagues at the Department of Education, the Department of Labor and other individuals and groups are working hard to finalize plans for the day. I am so pleased that the lead to the Summit has inspired so many of you to reach out and share the important challenges and opportunities impacting community colleges in your regions. I have reviewed many of the hundreds of comments and ideas that were sent to us via email and through our website – and these important suggestions and comments have helped to shape and inform our Summit agenda and breakout sessions.

I was thrilled to hear from many of you who are planning to host satellite summits and events in your own schools and communities. To support these efforts, we have created a toolkit, available at www.WhiteHouse.gov/CommunityCollege which will help guide your discussions and give you direction on how to send your feedback to us. My staff and I will continue to incorporate your voice into our ongoing work.

I hope this summit shines a light on the millions of students, educators, employers, philanthropists, and other stakeholders who are working together to support community colleges and their students. Our work together will continue long after Tuesday.