New Resources to Educate School Employees and Survivors
We’ve released new resources to help prevent people from missing out on benefits they may be eligible to receive. We designed these easy-to-use toolkits to educate professionals and organizations about our programs for children and our benefits for families after the death of a loved one.
Our toolkits are in a downloadable PDF format and include ready-to-go communications, including sample email blasts, newsletter articles, handouts, and social media posts.
School Professionals Toolkit
The Social Security Benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Payments for Children: A Guide for School Professionals Toolkit is for teachers, school counselors, and other educators. It is intended to help them educate parents and guardians about the financial help we provide. We make payments to students with disabilities and to those who have experienced the loss of a parent or have a parent who is receiving retirement or disability benefits.
The toolkit discusses:
- Eligibility requirements.
- How to apply.
- How to respond to requests for school records and forms.
- Evidence we need from school professionals to determine whether a child with a disability may be eligible for SSI.
Survivors Benefits Toolkit
The Social Security Survivors Benefits Toolkit – A Guide for Organizations is for funeral homes, care facilities, and other organizations working with people who have lost a loved one. It was created to increase awareness about survivors benefits for eligible family members. We make monthly payments to spouses, minor children, adult children with disabilities, and dependent parents of workers who paid Social Security taxes before they died.
The toolkit discusses:
- Eligibility requirements.
- How to apply.
- Evidence we need to process applications.
We’ve also released YouTube videos about How Social Security Survivors Benefits Work and testimonials from two Social Security employees whose grandmothers relied on survivors benefits to support their children after their husbands died. The videos are in English and Spanish.
Episode 4 of SSA Talks, our audio series, provides details about the benefits we pay to children who have a parent who is deceased and to children with disabilities.
Other Toolkits
We offer other toolkits to increase awareness about our programs and benefits. These include our:
- Youth Toolkit 2024 to help students receiving SSI payments make a successful transition to adulthood.
- Faith-Based and Community Groups Outreach Toolkit to help them educate their members and clients about financial assistance, including SSI.
- Educator Toolkit to help teachers educate students about why Social Security was created, why it’s important today, and how FICA taxes work. It includes lesson plans, talking points, and sample homework assignments.
- Ticket to Work Service Provider Outreach Toolkit to support organizations that help people with disabilities enter (or re-enter) the workforce.
These toolkits include sample email blasts, newsletter articles, fact sheets, infographics, and social media posts.
More resources are available at our webpages, Information for People Helping Others and Information for Groups and Organizations. Don’t forget to subscribe to our Advocates webpage.
Please spread the word about all our toolkits with your co-workers, colleagues, and others who may find them useful.