All posts by Jeff Dunsavage

Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Homeowners Insurance, Risk Management

Despite High-Profile Events, U.S. Wildfire Severity, Frequency
Have Been Declining

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With record-breaking wildfires making headlines in recent years, it may be surprising to learn that U.S. wildfire frequency and severity for in 2023 are on track to be the lowest in the past two decades. In fact, the trend has been generally downward since 2000, according to a recently published Triple-I Issues Brief.

Despite catastrophic losses in Washington State, Hawaii, Louisiana, and elsewhere, California – a state often considered synonymous with wildfire – is in the midst of its second mild fire season in a row. This may be due to drought-breaking rains and snows, but Texas is experiencing fewer wildfires than in 2022, despite worsening drought conditions. About 37 percent of the continental U.S. remains under some form of drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

At the same time, Swiss Re reports that wildfire’s share of insured natural catastrophe losses has doubled over the past 30 years. How can those trends be reconciled? At least part of the answer resides in population trends – specifically, growing numbers of people choosing to live in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the zone between unoccupied and developed land, where structures and human activity intermingle with vegetative fuels.

 Mitigation is necessary – but not sufficient

The improvements in frequency and severity are likely due to investments in mitigation. State and local authorities have invested heavily to mitigate the human causes of wildfire. In addition, the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act of 2021 included billions to support wildfire-risk reduction, homeowner investment in mitigation, and improved responsiveness to fires. More recently, the Biden Administration announced $185 million for wildfire mitigation and resilience as part of the Investing in America Agenda, which should help continue the declines in frequency and severity.

But with more people living in the WUI – nearly 99 million, or one third of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Fire Administration – more than 46 million homes with an estimated value of $1.3 trillion are at risk.

According to the 2022 Annual Report of Wildfires produced by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), 68,988 wildfires were reported and 7.5 million acres burned in 2022.  Of these fires, 89 percent were caused by human activity and burned 55 acres per fire. By contrast, the 11 percent of fires caused by lightning resulted in an average of 563 acres burned, 10 times more than human-caused fires.

This difference may shed light on why the number of fires has been decreasing more dramatically than acres burned. Further, population shifts into the WUI are increasing the proximity of property to places prone to fire, helping to explain the rise in wildfire’s increased percentage of insured losses.

Catastrophes, Coastal Property, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, ESG, Floods, Homeowners Insurance, Risk Management

CSAA: When It Comes
to Fighting Climate Risk, We’re All On the Same Side

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

CSAA Insurance Group – a AAA insurer – is spurring innovation in the insurance industry through several initiatives tackling the dangers of climate risk.

“We’ve been on a journey to reduce our environmental footprint for a long time,” said Debbie Brackeen, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer with CSAA, in a recent executive exchange with Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. “We are seeking to reduce our carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2025. We view this work as aligned with our mission: to help our members prepare for and recover from climate risk.”

CSAA has taken several steps to help achieve its goals, including:

  • Leading the first-ever Innovation Challenge on climate resilience with IDEO and Aon, along with several other sponsors;
  • Working on the California Innovation Fund in partnership with Blue Forest, a $50 million fund that CSAA contributed half that capital, focused on forest restoration and reducing fuel in a smart and sustainable way; and
  • Supporting the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University, which conducts work around predictive modeling, among other endeavors.

While this may seem like a new development, Kevelighan noted that insurers have long worked toward these goals.

“We’ve seen the ESG movement take a hold in the past few years, but it’s been in the DNA of the Triple-I and the insurance industry generally for a long time,” Kevelighan said. “More than half the battle is recognizing that the risk is increasing, while identifying solutions.”

Still, with the increasing consequences associated with climate risk, more work needs to be done.

“There were billion-dollar wildfire losses at CSAA in my first two years in the industry,” Brackeen said. “I wondered if this was normal. It ignited in me that, whatever we do in innovation, it will have to do with wildfire risk. However, what concerns me the most is that risks are becoming uninsurable. This is from the cumulative effects of several different types of losses, including convective storms.”

“We have to seek different types of innovative partnerships to address these issues,” Brackeen concluded. “In this fight for our industry, there are no competitors. We have to be on the same side of the table.”

Catastrophes, Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Resilience, Earthquakes, Emerging Risks, ESG, Flood Insurance, Floods, Insurers and the Economy, Legal Environment, Regulation, Risk Management

Triple-I Town Hall Amplified Calls
to Attack Climate Risk

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By Jeff Dunsavage, Senior Research Analyst, Triple-I

I’m pleased and proud to have been part of Triple-I’s Town Hall — “Attacking the Risk Crisis” — in Washington, D.C. In an intimate setting at the Mayflower Hotel on November 30, 120-plus attendees got to hear from experts representing insurance, government, academia, nonprofits, and other stakeholder groups on climate risk, what’s being done to address it, and what remains to be done.  

Triple-I’s first-ever Town Hall was designed as a logical step in its multi-disciplinary, action-oriented effort to change behavior to drive resilience. Capping a year in which headlines about “insurance crises” in several states garnered major media attention, Triple-I and its members and partners recognized the need for clarification.

“What we’re seeing is not an ‘insurance crisis’,” Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan told the standing-room-only audience. “We’re in the midst of a risk crisis. Rising insurance premium rates and availability difficulties are not the cause but a symptom of this crisis.”

Whisker Labs CEO Bob Marshall discusses innovation with moderator Jennifer Kyung, Vice President and Chief Underwriter at USAA.

While the insurance industry has a critical role to play and is uniquely well equipped to lead the attack, simply transferring risk is not enough. A recurring theme at the Town Hall was the need to shift from a focus on assessing and repairing damage to one of predicting and preventing losses.

Three moderated discussions – examining the nature of climate risk and its costs; highlighting the need of strategic innovation in mitigating those risks and building resilience; and exploring the role and impact of government policy – gave panelists the opportunity to share their insights with a diverse audience focused on collaborative action.

The agenda was:

Climate Risk Is Spiraling: What Can Be Done?

Moderator: David Wessel, Senior Fellow and Director at the Brookings Institution and former Economics Editor for The Wall Street Journal.

Panelists:

Dr. Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University, researcher and Triple-I non-resident scholar.

Dan Kaniewski, Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan, Former FEMA Deputy Administrator.

Jacqueline Higgins, Head, North America & Senior Vice President, Public Sector Solutions, Swiss Re

Jim Boccher, Chief Development Officer, ServiceMaster.

Jeff Huebner, Chief Risk Officer, CSAA.

Innovation, High- and Low-Tech: How Insurers Are Driving Solutions

Moderator: Jennifer Kyung, VP, Chief Underwriter, USAA.

Panelists:

Partha Srinivasa, EVP, CIO, Erie Insurance.

Sam Krishnamurthy, CTO, Digital Solutions, Crawford.

Bob Marshall, CEO, Whisker Labs.

Stephen DiCenso, Principal,Milliman.

Charlie Sidoti, Executive Director, InnSure.

Outdated Regs to Legal System Abuse: It Will Take Villages to Fix This

Moderator: Zach Warmbrodt, financial services editor, Politico.

Panelists:

Parr Schoolman, SVP and Chief Risk Officer, Allstate.

Tim Judge, SVP, Head Modeler, Chief Climate Officer, Fannie Mae.

Dan Coates, Deputy Director, DRS, Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Fred Karlinsky, Co-Chair of Greenberg Traurig’s Global Insurance Regulatory & Transactions Practice Group.

Panelists and participants alike appreciated the compact, action-focused, conversational nature of the single-afternoon event, as well as the opportunity to discuss areas in which their diverse industry- or sector-specific priorities and efforts overlapped.

If you weren’t able to join us in Washington, don’t worry. In his closing remarks, Kevelighan announced plans to take the program on the road with a local and regional focus, so stay tuned. You can contact us if you’re interested in participating in future Town Halls or other Triple-I events. You also can join the “Attacking the Risk Crisis” LinkedIn Group to be part of the ongoing conversation.

Insurance Industry

Insurers Donated
Over $1 Billion in 2022
for Good Works

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KiDS NEED MoRE, a nonprofit dedicated to children and families coping with life-threatening illnesses and traumatic interruptions of normal childhood, is just one of the worthy organizations IICF supports.

By Loretta Worters, Vice President – Media Relations, Triple-I

The insurance industry contributed more than $1 billion to charitable endeavors in 2022, according to an independent review by the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF).

Alongside the industry’s charitable giving, the IICF Philanthropic Giving Index revealed other community contributions in 2022, demonstrating the industry’s dedication to giving and volunteerism:

  • 137,300 nonprofit partners and causes received support
  • 7.5 million volunteer hours were served
  • 94,000 insurance professionals volunteered

These numbers were announced on November 15, National Philanthropy Day, which is celebrated by fundraising professionals, government leaders, foundations, businesses, individual donors and others who wish to honor all the contributions philanthropy has made. 

“Philanthropy Day provides an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of giving and all that the insurance industry has accomplished,” said IICF Vice President and Chief Program Officer Elizabeth (Betsy) Myatt. With research support from Triple-I, IICF reviewed data from 120 companies, representative of all sectors of the insurance industry, for this snapshot of industrywide charitable giving and supporting data.

“These collective philanthropic findings provide the industry with a remarkable numeral representation of the generous charitable giving and support by our many insurance businesses,” said Myatt, who is also the Executive Director of the Northeast Division of IICF.

IICF is a nonprofit that unites the shared strengths of the insurance industry to help communities and enrich lives through grants, volunteer service, and leadership. Established in 1994, it has served as the philanthropic voice and foundation of the industry for close to 30 years, contributing $47 million in community grants along with over 337,000 volunteer hours by more than 115,000 industry professionals. IICF reinvests locally where funds are raised, serving hundreds of charities and nonprofit organizations for maximum community impact. 

Among the many charities IICF awards grants to are:

  •  KiDS NEED MoRE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of children and  families coping with life-threatening illnesses and traumatic interruptions of the normal childhood experience;
  • 180 Turn Lives Around, which provides programs and services for victims of domestic and sexual violence;
  • Boston Scores, helping to break barriers to advance racial and gender equality;
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness, whose mission is to help families and individuals affected by mental illness build better lives through education, support and advocacy.

Insurers and the Economy

Homeowners Insurance Costs Exceeded Inflation From 2000 to 2020

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

The cost of homeowners insurance outpaced inflation from 2000 to 2020, according to new research by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) – like Triple-I, an affiliate of The Institutes. During that period, IRC found the coverage to be most affordable in Utah and least affordable in Louisiana.

The IRC research brief, Homeowners Insurance Affordability: Countrywide Trends and State Comparisons, reports that the average homeowners insurance expenditure across the United States was $1,311 in 2020, while the median household income was $68,010 for the same year. The data excluded flood and earthquake insurance, neither of which is included in a standard homeowners policy.

Median household income was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau, and average homeowners insurance expenditures data came from the National Association of Insurance Commissions (NAIC). Because the most recent NAIC data is from 2020, the affordability index does not reflect the inflation surge related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

In Utah – the most affordable state – households spent only 0.92 percent of their income on homeowners insurance. Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington, and New Hampshire rounded out the states with the lowest expenditure-to-income ratios.

Catastrophes played a major role in states where homeowners insurance was least affordable. Louisiana topped the list, at 3.84 percent of income in 2020. The other least affordable states were Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Some of these higher costs are due to insurers facing obstacles related to fraud, excessive claims, and legal system abuse after catastrophic events. These cost drivers have led to less affordable coverage nationwide.

Additionally, certain areas are undergoing crises of both affordability and availability, as some insurers respond by reducing coverage or withdrawing from specific markets. The research brief notes that examining trends in cost drivers can reveal opportunities for improving both affordability and availability for all consumers.

Want to know more about the risk crisis and how insurers are working to address it? Check out Triple-I’s upcoming Town Hall, “Attacking the Risk Crisis,” which will be held Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C.

Learn More:

Triple-I Issues Brief: How Inflation Affects P/C Insurance Premium Rates and How It Doesn’t

Triple-I Issues Brief: Drivers of Homeowners Insurance Rate Increases

Triple-I Issues Brief: Proposition 103 and California’s Risk Crisis

Triple-I Issues Brief: Florida Homeowners Insurance Crisis

Triple-I Issues Brief: Louisiana Insurance Crisis

Disaster Resilience, Industry Awards & Events

Triple-I Town Hall, Nov. 30, in D.C., Targets Climate Risk

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Property/casualty insurers have a powerful interest in mitigating climate-related risk and promoting investment in resilience. The industry is uniquely qualified to help address these perils, but traditional risk-transfer mechanisms on their own are no longer sufficient. Collective responsibility and a multi-disciplinary approach are needed for predicting and preventing catastrophic losses.

That’s why Triple-I’s first-ever “Attacking the Risk Crisis” Town Hall is focused on climate-related perils. The one-day event – being held on November 30, 2023, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. – will feature three moderated discussions among private-sector innovators, government, academia, and other stakeholder groups whose engagement is necessary to drive resilience investment and behavioral change.

“Climate risk alone is a formidable adversary,” said Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan, noting that insured losses related to natural disasters have increased tenfold since the 1980s. “Resource constraints, legal system abuse, economic pressures, and political intricacies further complicate matters.”

Triple-I has long been a participant in the climate-risk conversation, and this Town Hall is part of its effort help turn these discussion into action. It recently played a key role in a project with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) to develop a roadmap for stakeholders in flood-risk management to drive investment in mitigation and resilience.

Learn more about the NIBS project here.

In the same spirit as the NIBS project, Triple-I is holding this Town Hall to reach across the barriers that often separate sectors that would benefit from investing in resilience to different degrees and in different stages of the value-creation chain.

“Aligning incentives for these diverse co-beneficiaries of resilience investment is a key hurdle to be cleared,” Kevelighan said. “Triple-I’s subject-matter experts have been speaking and publishing on these topics for years. But our industry can’t do it alone.”

The first panel – Climate Risk Is Spiraling – What Can Be Done? – will be moderated by David Wessel, senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and director of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy. This panel will discuss the current state of climate risk and share their insights as practitioners and thought leaders.

The second – Innovation, High- and Low-Tech: How Insurers Are Driving Solutions – will be moderated by Jennifer Kyung, vice president and chief underwriter for USAA, and focus on how the tools, techniques, and strategies insurers are bringing to bear on these complex and costly challenges.

And the third – From Outdated Regs to Legal System Abuse: It Will Take Villages to Fix This – will be moderated by Zach Warmbrodt, financial services editor at Politico, and panelists will delve into the legal and public policy considerations that need to be addressed to move the needle on climate resilience.

Solution-focused and organized with an eye toward driving positive action across stakeholder groups, this event is an opportunity to meet and interact with people who are doing the work and developing the strategies and tactics. Hear and share insights and – perhaps most important – get involved in the attack on the risk crisis.

You can register and check out the agenda and speaker profiles here.

Insurers and the Economy

Convective Storm Losses Hamper P&C Profitability; Rebound Expected by 2025

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

Severe convective storm losses—the highest in decades—significantly affected the 2023 net combined ratio for the property/casualty industry, according to the latest underwriting projections by Triple-I and Milliman actuaries.

The 2023 net combined ratio is now forecast to be 103.8, with hard markets continuing the net written premium growth, forecast at 8.3 percent. Combined ratio is a standard measure of underwriting profitability, in which a result below 100 represents a profit and one above 100 represents a loss.

The quarterly report, Insurance Economics and Underwriting Objections: A Forward View, was presented on November 2 at a members only briefing moderated by Triple-I CEO Sean Kevelighan. Members can access the briefing replay by contacting members@iii.org for instructions.

Dale Porfilio, FCAS, MAAA, Chief Insurance Officer of Triple-I, discussed the overall P&C industry underwriting projections.

“We forecast personal lines to improve each year from 2023 through 2025, but still lag behind strong underwriting profitability in commercial lines,” he said. He also noted that the improvements are expected to result in “the overall P&C industry returning to a small underwriting profit in 2025.”

On personal auto, Porfilio forecast premium growth of 11.0 percent in 2023 as rate increases start to exceed loss trends, allowing the 2023 net combined ratio to improve incrementally to 110.5 from 112.2 in 2022. 

“Costlier replacement parts and low inventories are contributing to current and future loss pressures,” Porfilio said, adding, “unless replacement cost begins to decrease materially—which is not currently forecast—we project personal auto to remain at an underwriting loss through 2025.”

Looking at commercial property, the 2023 net combined ratio is forecast at 91.6, nearly identical to 2022. 

“Hard market conditions continue into 2023, most notably in catastrophe-prone regions,” said Jason Kurtz, a principal and consulting actuary at Milliman—an independent risk-management, benefits, and technology firm said. “We expect premium growth to moderate through 2025.”

Kurtz also discussed commercial auto, predicting that underwriting losses will continue, with first-half 2023 direct incurred loss ratios at the highest in at least 15 years.

“There will be a continued need for rate to improve the combined ratio results,” Kurtz said, adding, “We are forecasting the 2023 combined ratio at 106.7 percent, 2024 at 103.4 percent and 2025 at 102.7 percent.”

Michel Léonard, PhD, CBE, Chief Economist and Data Scientist at Triple-I, discussed key macroeconomic trends impacting the property/casualty industry results including inflation, increasing interest rates and overall economic underlying growth.

“P&C growth has improved in 2023, growing 1.3 percent versus 2.1 percent for overall GDP. While many hurdles could derail such improvements, P&C underlying economic growth is currently positioned to increase faster than overall GDP by 2.6 percent versus 1.7 percent in 2024 and by 4.5 percent versus 2.0 percent in 2025,” Léonard explained.

Léonard noted that top risk scenarios for 2024 include geopolitics, weaking employment, and GDP contraction. “The Fed may also keep increasing rates into 2025, pushing down home and auto insurance underlying economic growth.” 

Donna Glenn, Chief Actuary at the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), also shared preliminary numbers for 2023 on workers compensation premium, payroll, and underwriting profitability. She noted that premium increased 11 percent in 2022, returning to near the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Glenn also indicated that the 2023 combined ratio should be very similar to 2022, resulting in a full decade of workers comp calendar-year combined ratios under 100 percent.

“All in all, the results for the first half of 2023 are remarkably stable,” she said. “I want to be clear—we continue to be vigilant in monitoring results and trends.”

Want to know more about the risk crisis and how insurers are working to address it? Check out Triple-I’s upcoming Town Hall, “Attacking the Risk Crisis,” which will be held Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C.

Auto Insurance

Uninsured Driving Dipped in 2022 After Pandemic Spurred a Multi-year Rise

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By Max Dorfman, Research Writer, Triple-I

About one out of seven U.S. drivers (14.0 percent) operated a private-passenger vehicle without liability insurance in 2022, according to new research by the Insurance Research Council (IRC) – like Triple-I, an affiliate of The Institutes.

The IRC report, Uninsured Motorists: 2017—2022, which used data from 10 insurers representing around 56 percent of the U.S. private passenger auto insurance market, found that the percentage of uninsured motorists been rising over the past few years. Indeed, the percentage of uninsured motorists was 11.1 percent in 2019, increased to 13.9 percent in 2020, and stood at 14.2 percent in 2021, before the slight decline in 2022.

The report posits that declining personal income and rising inflation – particularly during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic – led some motorists to forgo purchasing mandatory auto insurance liability coverage. This shift was particularly apparent during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic.  In fact, before the pandemic, the number of uninsured U.S. drivers was largely declining, with 40 jurisdictions experiencing decreases from 2017-2019. The largest decrease was in Montana, where the percentage of uninsured drivers on its roadways fell by 4.1 percent during the three-year timeframe.

This, however, was not uniform across the country. The largest percentage increases during the same period were seen in Florida and Michigan. Michigan’s 2019 legislative reform greatly helped alleviate the situation; the state experienced a 6.2 percent decline from 2020-2022.

In 2022, the District of Columbia (25.2 percent), New Mexico (24.9 percent), and Mississippi (22.2 percent) had the highest percentages of uninsured motorists in 2022. Wyoming (5.9 percent), Maine (6.2 percent), and Idaho (6.2 percent) were the three states with the lowest percentage.

Uninsured motorists impose costs for insurers, state governments, and taxpayers. Auto insurers are required by law to underwrite uninsured and underinsured driver coverage and process these claims, as well as complying with regulations in many states requiring insurers to inform the state when auto insurance coverage is canceled. State governments also administer taxpayer-funded programs that monitor the insurance status of motor vehicles registered in the state.

Careers and Employment

HBCU Impact: Bridging
the Insurance Talent Gap

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By Scott Holeman, Director, Media Relations,Triple-I

To amplify the Insurance Information Institute’s (Triple-I) commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, Triple-I partnered with HBCU IMPACT®, whose mission is to increase the number of Black professionals in the insurance, risk management, financial services, and legal industries. The first step in attracting new, diverse talent is to raise awareness about the sector’s viability and vast opportunities for rewarding careers.

A logical place to engage new talent is on college campuses, where many students are still making up their minds about what kind of careers they should pursue. HBCU IMPACT® not only develops and mentors students through a variety of programs and initiatives, but it has also created the HBCU IMPACT® Incubator. This innovative initiative helps students gain insurance credentials and licenses before they graduate, giving them a head start in their search for jobs.

Symira Goodwin attended Bethune-Cookman University and now works at American Express.

Roschinael Pierre Lewis attended Florida Memorial University and is currently interning for the National Basketball Association.

Symira and Roschinael are both HBCU IMPACT® success stories.  Each of them received insurance adjuster’s licenses while still in college.

Insurance Industry

Educate to Empower: Financial Literacy Key
to Helping Abuse Victims

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By Loretta Worters, Vice President – Media Relations, Triple-I

Financial abuse occurs in 98 percent of abusive relationships and is the number one reason victims stay in or return to abusive relationships, according to the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Financial security and access to resources can make all the difference to domestic violence victims when deciding to leave an abusive relationship — yet 78 percent of Americans don’t recognize financial abuse as domestic violence.

Insurance is an important part of financial planning that can help survivors move forward.

The forms of financial abuse may be subtle or explicit. They include concealing information, limiting the victim’s access to assets, or reducing accessibility to family finances. Financial abuse – along with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse – includes behaviors to intentionally manipulate, intimidate, and threaten the victim and entrap them in the relationship. In some cases, financial abuse is present throughout the relationship and in others it becomes present when the survivor is trying to leave or has left the relationship.

In support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Triple-I offers financial strategies to protect victims before and after leaving an abusive relationship. They include securing financial records, knowing where the victim stands financially, building a financial safety net, making necessary changes to their insurance policies, and maintaining good credit. 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) reports that 10 million people are physically abused by an intimate partner each year, and 20,000 calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines each day. In addition, 85 percent of women who leave an abusive relationship return because of their economic dependence on their abusers. Furthermore, the degree of women’s economic dependence on an abuser is associated with the severity of the abuse they suffer.

Ruth Glenn, who currently serves as president of Public Affairs for NCADV and has advocated —professionally and personally — for many policies, including reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and legislation involving the intersection of firearms and domestic violence. She noted that “the NCADV’s partnership with the insurance industry, and Triple-I in particular, is critical to developing tools and resources for victims and survivors of domestic violence.” 

One example of insurers that are developing such tools is The Allstate Foundation, which has been committed to ending domestic violence since 2005 through financial empowerment by helping to provide survivors with the education and resources needed to achieve their potential and equip young people with the information and confidence they need to help prevent unhealthy relationships before they start.  The foundation offers a Moving Ahead Curriculum, a five-module program that helps prepare survivors as they move from short-term safety to long-term security. Modules of the curriculum include:

  • Understanding financial abuse;
  • Learning financial fundamentals;
  • Mastering credit basics;
  • Building financial foundations; and
  • Long-term planning.

“One of the most powerful methods of keeping a survivor trapped in an abusive relationship is not being able to support themselves financially,” said Glenn, who is author of the memoir, Everything I Never Dreamed, which chronicles her own domestic violence experiences.

“That’s why insurance and financial education are so important,” she said.  “Education can save a life.”