By Kathryn Kretchmer-Weyland
September 28, 2009

Congress has declared October 18-24 as National Save for Retirement Week and cities are going to be in the thick of it. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is taking the initiative to help mayors help their city workers by focusing attention on the importance of saving for retirement through the USCM 2009 Save for Retirement Campaign.

“Given the significant economic challenges facing so many city workers, the Conference believes the issue of retirement security for city workers has never been more important,” says USCM CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran. “We have teamed up with our partner of 30 years, Nationwide Retirement Solutions, to help us build this exciting initiative for mayors. Our mayors are leaders and we want to help them lead their city on the issue of retirement security.”

Cochran added that the campaign offers mayors a huge opportunity to encourage city employees to save for retirement through 457 deferred compensation programs, and in doing so retain and attract highly qualified people and earn the goodwill of employees.

To promote the USCM 2009 Save for Retirement Campaign, mayors are encouraged to:

• Reach out to city employees and promote the importance and benefits of saving for retirement and deferred compensation programs tailored specifically for public employees, including holding specific Save for Retirement Week events in October;

• Promote city'sanctioned informational workshops for employees that are conducted by your city’s 457 deferred compensation provider; and

• Sign a pledge to be a part of the USCM 2008 Save for Retirement Campaign.

The USCM has created a toolkit for mayors in partnership with Nationwide and placed it on the website at www.usmayors.org, which is where the pledge can be found.

Mayors will be asked for a report and photos of their cities’ Save for Retirement initiatives to be included in the big annual wrap-up article in U.S. Mayor later in the year.

For more information about the USCM 2009 Save for Retirement Campaign, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at The United States Conference of Mayors: phone 301-460-5251, e-mail: kweyland@usmayors.org; or Jeffrey Bean at The United States Conference of Mayors: phone: 202-446-8140, email: jbean@usmayors.org.