DENVER - Women in Colorado earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes, and that wage gap plays a deciding role in how and when women can securely retire.

Jennifer Norr, president of the Women in Pensions Network, said women more often work part-time jobs than men, making them less likely to have a retirement plan through the workplace. Women also are more likely than men to leave the workforce to care for children or other family members, which Norr said impacts their ability to save for retirement.

"They don't make as much as men, they're currently paid about 80 cents on the dollar, and that's worse for women of color," she said. "It's all the more reason why women need resources like pensions so that they can retire with dignity."

Companies that offer retirement benefits largely have abandoned pensions over the past decades, in favor of lower-cost contributions to individual retirement accounts including 401(k)s, with values linked to the stock market. Norr said any form of retirement savings can help keep women out of poverty in their sunset years, but noted that pensions provide a stable, guaranteed source of income.

Female employees make up 60% of the public-sector workforce, and Daniel Doonan, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, said most city, county, state and federal jobs come with a defined-benefit pension: You earn the benefit during your career, and upon retirement, that benefit is paid out through your lifetime.

"If you retire at 65, you'll receive a monthly check for the rest of your life," he said, "and you may also have a spousal benefit, if you pass away and your spouse continues living."

He added that women also experience higher health-care and housing costs in retirement, since they live longer than men, putting women without pensions at greater risk of outliving their savings. In a 2020 survey, two-thirds of older people reported they're more afraid of running out of money in retirement than death.


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INDIANAPOLIS -- A new partnership in Central Indiana is aiming to build pipelines to the executive suite for women and ethnic minorities.

Business schools in the region are hosting cohorts of highly qualified and diverse professionals for skills learning, networking, peer mentoring and more.

Dr. Leon Jackson, executive director of strategic initiatives at Marian University and founder of the Diversity in Leadership Program, hopes it will find inroads for candidates to access leadership and executive positions, as well as help the region attract, nurture and retain talented people.

"So often, I would see friends and family make statements about how they're moving to Atlanta or Texas or North Carolina because there are no opportunities here for really talented people," Jackson observed. "This program is designed to help curb what they call the brain drain here locally."

He pointed to research, which showed when executive teams are more diverse, it increases the bottom line for companies, and often it can help them identify new markets.

Jackson noted the six-month curriculum takes participants through key concepts such as business analytics, leadership communication, accounting and finance, organizational strategy and leading organizations. He emphasized they work with an executive coach and apply the lessons toward a project with their employer.

"We understand that ethnic minorities and women are not afforded the same opportunities as our white male counterparts," Jackson stressed. "And for the universities to be bought in to advancing these communities, these under-represented communities, is really cool."

The first cohort of the program began in July, and applications are now open for the second cohort, starting in January. In addition to the business schools hosting participants at Marian, Butler, Indiana University, Notre Dame and Purdue, all kinds of Indiana stakeholders are sponsoring the program, from One America and First Internet Bank to the Mind Trust and Crossroads Education.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A graphic novel illustrated by a University of Illinois professor aims to serve as a primer for young people to learn about the history of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, often known as Black Wall Street, destroyed by a white mob in 1921.

It's called "Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre," by Alverne Ball of Joliet.

Stacey Robinson, assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, illustrated the book. He said it is about the destruction, but also the rebuilding, of the city, and the survivors that to this day are still seeking justice.

"The weight of this subject matter is balanced by very beautiful, very opulent colors, and there's joy in the book as well," Robinson remarked. "American history did not happen in black and white; it did not happen in sepia tones. I wanted the audience to feel this Black beauty, to feel the opulence of this town."

Survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre are calling on the Justice Department to launch an investigation and help find the mass graves of hundreds of Black residents who were killed. They said they do not trust local and state officials to handle the remains with compassion, or to meaningfully investigate the deaths.

Robinson noted in Tulsa before 1921, it is said dollars circulated more than 20 times before leaving the Black community, which is a key component of wealth-building. He argued kids and teens should be aware of the history to help understand the racial wealth gap that exists today. The net worth of the average white family is ten times more than the average Black family.

"If you know Black Panther, there's the nation of Wakanda, right? Well, Black people have had our Wakandas, we've had our Black liberated, autonomous spaces," Robinson explained. "And when we have these spaces, they are destroyed because we are Black and affluent."

Robinson added while the Tulsa Race Massacre is not often taught in schools, more and more people are learning about it with its 100-year anniversary. He noted the HBO series Watchmen and Lovecraft Country, set in Tulsa, are also boosting awareness, and hopes the graphic novel can serve as another entry point.

SALT LAKE CITY - With rising numbers of people targeted in hate crimes and related violence, a new report analyzes the hate-crime laws in each state.

The Movement Advancement Project and 16 partner organizations detail the patchwork of state laws in ten areas, and make suggestions for how states could move forward to reduce hate crimes.

Naomi Goldberg, deputy director of the group behind the report, said Utah updated its hate crime statute in 2019 to be more inclusive after violence against an immigrant man. But she said the state lacks support services for victims.

"We know that hate violence impacts those individuals," said Goldberg, "who may often need mental health care, potentially physical health care, and other pieces to help recover, but also communities that experience hate violence need those kind of supports."

The FBI consider a hate crime as an act of violence against people based on race, religion,
disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.

Goldberg said law enforcement agencies in Utah collect data on hate crimes, but only on a voluntary basis. She notes data collection is vital to get a full picture of what's happening in a state.

Goldberg said adequate law enforcement training also is crucial, along with solutions that focus beyond prison walls. She said several states have created sentencing options that don't strictly involve incarceration, and are instead based on restorative justice practices.

"That could include education, it could include actually engaging with victims and helping to build understanding," said Goldberg. "Which, when we think about hate violence, I think it's important that this isn't just a crime that happens. This is hate that is in our community, and intolerance that's in our country. So, how do we actually get to that root cause?"

Ultimately, Goldberg said eliminating hate violence will require society-level changes.

"We can't think about hate crime laws as a single solution," said Goldberg. "We really need to be thinking more broadly."

Partners for this report include the Anti-Defamation League, Matthew Shepard Foundation, National Black Justice Coalition and National Disability Rights Network.