California Elder Justice Coalition (CEJC)
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​​Protecting the rights, independence, and safety of older people by exploring barriers, sharing
​ information and ideas, and providing a voice from the field to policy makers
​

Who We Are

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CEJC is a multidisciplinary membership organization providing a voice from the field in elder justice policy and practice. We promote the rights of older adults, including protection against age-based discrimination and elder abuse, and equitable access to resources, health care, and the legal system by those in greatest need.
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Policy

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Ageism Violates Human
and Civil Rights

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CEJC advocates for policy reform, raises awareness about elder justice developments, creates opportunities for exchange among advocates and policy makers, and provides consultation, training, and technical assistance. Our  work reflects our Principles of Elder Justice. 
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Learn

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Our educational materials focus on leading edge issues in elder justice with the aim of fostering new ideas and innovations. They include:

  • ​Elder Justice Toolkits
  • Elder Justice Viewpoints Blog
  • Advocates Academy Webinars
  • ​Publications
  • ​News & Updates 
  • Awareness Snapshots​

CEJC News & Updates

CEJC A*TEAM Update

Doing a deep-dive into the issue of APS workers' problems accessing bank customer records in elder financial exploitation investigations, CEJC’s A*Team is working to customize The Interagency Guidance on Privacy Laws and Reporting Financial Abuse of Older Adults, which was originally developed by NAPSA and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.  The  Guidelines, which can be used by APS and MDTs, include sample request forms that reflect federal privacy laws as well as state and local legal authorization.

Created to study solutions to systemic obstacles identified by local elder abuse MDTs, the A*Team focused on banks’ refusal to comply with investigators’ requests as one of the most common problems cited by MDTs.


For more detail on the A*Team process and progress, see the latest update on the CEJC A*Team page:   

CEJC’s A*Team Tackles MDT/Bank Interactions During Investigations (January 2023)


​The "A*TEAM" is supported by a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, US Department of Justice.

Recording Available of our November 17th Webinar

In case you missed it, or you'd like to share with colleagues, the recording of our November 17th webinar, Locked Away: Human Trafficking of At Risk Adults is available here. If you'd like to hear about future webinars, please sign up on our mailing list on our Contact Us page.    
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CEJC Announces New Steering Committee Chair Donna Benton

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CEJC's Steering Committee announces our new Chair,
Donna Benton, PhD. Donna is a long time CEJC leader, and is a Research Associate Professor of Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology where she directs the USC Family Caregiver Support Center and the LA Caregiver Resource Center.  She is actively involved in the Master Plan for Aging, serving on its Research Subcommittee, the Equity Work Group, and the Stakeholder Advisory Committee.  Her skills as an educator, researcher, and innovator in caregiving, elder abuse prevention, and social justice make her the ideal leader as we take on new challenges and opportunities. 
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on our
​Elder Justice Viewpoints Blog ​

A*TEAM SWITCHES INTO FAST-TRACK MODE TO STOP FRAUD, REVEALING SYSTEM SHORTFALLS AND OPPORTUNITIES​

In this post, CEJC A*Team Coordinator Carol Sewell describes how the A*Team was recently able to quickly take action to stop fraud. Read more here. 

REACTING TO THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION ON REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS​

In this post​, CEJC Executive Director Lisa Nerenberg reacts to the Supreme Court decision on reproductive rights and the threats to privacy and autonomy it poses to all Americans. She offers 5 actions that elder justice advocates can take to counter those threats.
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Creating an elder justice coordinating council was a top priority for CEJC,and we're delighted to see it come to fruition. It's especially exciting to see it launched as part
of the Master Plan ​for Aging and to be part of the process."
Lisa Nerenberg,
​CEJC Executive Director

Other News and Updates

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Elder & Disability Justice Coordinating Council

CEJC was well-represented at the third meeting of the EDJCC on July 20, 2022. The meeting focused on three priority areas that the Council will focus on: Adult Protective Services (APS), senior legal assistance, and conservatorship.  CEJC Executive Director Lisa Nerenberg and Vivianne Mbaku, Justice in Aging and CEJC Policy Committee Co-chair, framed the issues; Leza Coleman, California Commission on Aging and CEJC co-chair, joined Valerie Smith, Santa Clara County APS, to describe APS; and Steering Committee member James Treggiari, Legal Assistance for Seniors, described legal services. A recording of the meeting is available at: July 20, 2022, CA Elder & Disability Justice Coordinating Council. 

The next EDJCC meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2023.  Recordings of other past meetings and a schedule of future meetings are available at EDJCC.  
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CEJC's 2022 Elder Justice Legislative Update is now available

CEJC's Elder Justice Legislative Update (October 2022) can be found on our Policy page.
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New: Disappointing Outcome for EJ funding in 2023

Advocates for elder justice funding were disappointed with the federal Omnibus FY 23 spending bill signed in December.  As outlined by Bob Blancato of the Elder Justice Coalition, the final bill’s appropriation of $15 million for APS formula grants falls far short of the President’s requested $58 million and the $80 million proposed by the House. Likewise, the $21.6 million for the Long-Term Care Ombudsman represents only $2 million over previous years’ funding levels at a time when the program needs to rebuild after pandemic losses of volunteers and LTC residents in crisis. Continuing that trend, the federal spending bill retained the 2014 cap on Social Service Block Grant funding at $1.7 billion and did not include reauthorization of the Elder Justice Act. Blancato noted the one positive outcome is that the $15 million is the APS program’s first ever Congressional appropriation.

Resources and Reports

​New Guidance on Restitution (available on the CEJC Victim Services Toolkit)

New resources created by the National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI) in partnership with the Council of State Governments and others, provide guidance for attorneys and advocates on accessing restitution for clients. The resources cover the process and laws governing restitution, what's required for a restitution order to be issued, the relationship between restitution and civil damages, and more. Available in the NCVLI's Victim Law Library, the resources include Restitution Law & Practice Guide for Legal Practitioners, Restitution Law & Practice:  An Overview, and a Restitution Law Assessment Tool, to help practitioners identify ways to improve their own state restitution laws. 


See CEJC's Financial Crime Toolkit and Victim Services Toolkit pages for more.

​Why We Need Victim Comp

A new report from AARP spells out the health toll financial crimes take on older victims and points to the need for victim supports, such as access to mental health counseling, emotional support groups, and Victim Compensation. The report, Many Victims Struggle With Mental Health in Scams’ Aftermath, details the mounting number of older victims scammed each year and the resulting shame and self-blame that lead victims into crisis, including suicide, and the value of supports for victim recovery. CEJC has long advocated for California's Victim Compensation Board (CVCB) to cover mental health costs and other supports for victims of elder financial crimes in hopes of improving outcomes. The CVCB continues to cover victims and family members of victims of violent crimes only, despite CEJC's ongoing advocacy for older financial crime victims. 

Compassion Denied

While incarceration deprives people of most rights, inmates have the right to seek compassionate release. It is a right that many elderly inmates are deprived of. The California Parole Board's failure to grant release to a majority of compassionate release applicants is the subject of the article, An Elderly Woman in Prison Is Losing Her Memory. Why Won’t California Release Her?, published in The Guardian in December. According to the author, despite having terminal diagnoses by prison medical staff, debilitating Parkinson’s, neurocognitive disorders or being permanently confined to a wheelchair, only 360 of the nearly 2,000 elderly prisoners who applied for compassionate parole in 2021 were granted release.   
In response to the California Parole Board’s dismal approval rates, a new law to streamline and clarify the Compassionate Release process goes into effect this month. Sponsored by FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums), AB 960, among other things, clarifies conditions of eligibility for compassionate release, creates a presumption that eligible prisoners will be favored for release and clarifies that applicants’ cases are reviewed in a timely manner.

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National Network of State Elder Justice
​Coalitions (NNSEJC)

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Upcoming Meetings
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The next NNSEJC Membership meeting date will be announced soon.


Recent Meetings

At the meeting on June 9, presentations on medical/legal partnerships were provided by:

Sarah Hooper, JD, UC San Francisco/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science and Health Policy
Mahala Schlagman, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC)
Rebecca Russo, JD, Staff Attorney, Legal Assistance of Western NY (LawNY)
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A summary and recording of the presentations is available here.

NNSEJC at ASA
On April 12, 2022 NNSEJC hosted Raise Your Voice! Building and Sustaining Effective State Elder Justice Coalitions to Address Emerging Priorities, a symposium at the annual American Society on Aging conference. The event featured NNSEJC Steering Committee members Paul Caccamise, Iris Freeman, and Jennifer Spoeri, Executive Director of the National Adult Protective Services Association. 


Visit National Network of State Elder Justice Coalitions (NNSEJC) for more information. 
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  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our Core Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Supporters
    • Contact Us
  • Policy
    • 2022 Elder Justice Legislative Update
    • Advocacy
    • Policy Development
    • A*TEAM
  • Learn
    • Toolkits >
      • Adult Protective Services
      • Long Term Care Facilities
      • Undue Influence
      • Elder Homelessness
      • Financial Crime
      • Victims' Rights and Services
      • International
      • Opioid Crisis
      • Restorative Approaches to Elder Abuse
    • Webinars and Events
    • CEJC Publications
    • Awareness Snapshots
    • Blog: Elder Justice Viewpoints
  • Join Us
    • Renew
    • Donate
  • NNSEJC