This forum was sponsored by the National Academy of Social Insurance
in collaboration with the Insight Center for Community Economic Development,  Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative

Event Chair: Lisa Mensah, Executive Director, Initiative on Financial Security, The Aspen Intitute

Social Security helped pave a humane path out of the Great Depression in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s broad agenda that lifted the poor and fostered the growth of a strong middle class. In today’s Great Recession, pundits question whether we can still afford Social Security’s promise to empower the vulnerable and sustain a vibrant middle class for tomorrow’s working families. This forum explored lessons from history that shed light on the future.