US: Equal Justice Works gets grant to help Elder-Abuse Victims
By Zach Melvin, From The American Lawyer
Equal Justice Works has received a $1.4 million grant as a part of the Elder Justice AmeriCorps initiative, the nonprofit organization announced Tuesday.
In response to growing awareness of elder abuse, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Corporation for National and Community Service announced the creation of the Elder Justice AmeriCorps grant program in September 2015 to provide elder abuse victims with legal aid and support services.
The $1.4 million grant, awarded over the next two years, will help Equal Justice Works connect 150 AmeriCorps members—25 practicing lawyers and 125 law students—and some 300 pro bono volunteers to a network of partner organizations that focus on elder abuse. Under the supervision and training of these organizations, volunteers will provide legal assistance to about 8,000 low-income adults.
Elder abuse, defined as the physical or emotional abuse, neglect or exploitation of a vulnerable adult, is becoming an increasingly publicized issue. A 2015 White House case study reported that roughly 10 percent of people older than 60 are affected by elder abuse.
“People all have stories of an older person being exploited in one way or another,” says Equal Justice Works executive director David Stern. “One of the things that we can do, by having lawyers represent these people, is prevent the abuse from continuing.”
Stern likened the issue to the state of domestic violence just two decades ago. Cases, he said, were often brushed under the rug as private matters. It required extensive educational efforts and training initiatives to change how people and law enforcement reacted to the issue.
“We’ve got a similar problem on elder abuse. People don’t know the scope of the problem and don’t know what the remedies are,” Stern said.
Like domestic violence, most cases of elder abuse go unreported. Just one in 24 of the more than 5 million victims of elder abuse report their situation to the authorities. In addition to legal aid, Equal Justice Works will work to create teams of social workers, health professionals and law enforcement officials who can recognize abuse as it is happening and refer victims to the resources available to address the problem.
Stern said this effort is the first of its kind and as such, the organization is going to pay close attention to the effectiveness of its strategies.
“We’re going to do very careful evaluations of what’s working and what’s not,” Stern said. “It’s really a pilot program. We’re going to learn a lot from the first couple of years what the best approach is.”
IMAGE: Ocskay Bence
