UNCW, AARP partner to help with retirement issues

Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 8:06 p.m. Last Modified: Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at 8:06 p.m.

Organizers of a new partnership between AARP and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington hope to make retirement better for the region's sizable 50-and-over population.

At a kick-off event Tuesday, leaders of the "Secure and Healthy Retirement Initiative" detailed plans for AARP-North Carolina and UNCW's College of Health and Human Services and Cameron School of Business to develop programs to help people plan, save for and enjoy retirement. The partnership is the first of its kind for AARP.

Charles Hardy, dean of health and human services at UNCW, said the area is "a destination for the 50-plus."

"We want to become a model for the nation of how public and private partnerships really advance the community's agenda," he said during the presentation.

While the initiative is in its beginning stages, AARP-NC Associate State Director Suzanne LaFollette-Black said some programs are getting started.

AARP has hired four interns from UNCW and hopes to recruit 100 local volunteers to teach public classes on finance, health and wellness and other issues related to retirement.

A symposium on care giving is in the works for mid-November as is one focused on business for early 2015.

The initiative will also include a research component, using university and AARP resources to gather data on issues facing retirees in Southeastern North Carolina.

"We want to empower people with resources and AARP has quite a few that are free as well as the university expertise," LaFollette-Black said.

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UNCW, AARP partner to help with retirement issues