Every year, the Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist Program at CEW+ hosts a social justice activist impacting women’s rights and gender equity. The program aims to boost the capacity of social activists by offering them time, space, and support to work on projects they couldn’t pursue in typical settings. This March, CEW+ welcomes Cortney Sanders.
Sanders, with a master’s from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, is the institute director at the National Jobs for All Network, part of The New School’s Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy in New York. Previously, she held senior roles at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in D.C. and the U.S. Social Security Administration, focusing on state fiscal policy and labor market barriers.
Her TFVSA project, “The Future She Deserves: Collectively Confronting Labor Market Discrimination to Improve Women’s Retirement Security & Longevity,” builds on her prior work. She noted, “Our research started to shine a light on the real barriers to retirement. That work affirmed what I had long believed: Women’s economic security is foundational to justice.”
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- Sanders will present her TFVSA project at an event at the Ford School on April 7.
- Apply to be the 2027 TFVSA
“This is an urgent issue: No one should have to work until they die, yet that is the reality for many women,” Sanders stated. “My work aims to shift this paradigm by fostering an honest national dialogue about the labor market’s role in retirement inequality, society’s role and responsibility in addressing longevity, and the policy actions needed at state and local levels.”
TFVSAs are selected by a national committee, including:
- Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.
- Anne Magro, deputy dean and senior associate dean for Strategy Impact at George Mason University’s School of Business.
- Portia Polk, director of learning and advocacy at Generation Hope.
- Julie Ridenour, retired president of Steelcase Foundation.
- Laurita Thomas, president, American Research Universities Human Resources Institute.
- Mary Caroline “Twink” Frey, philanthropist.
The application for next year’s TFVSA is open. For more details, email CEW-TFVSA@umich.edu or visit the CEW+ website.
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