| Older African Americans affected by elder abuse deserve support and services that account for their cultural, social, and historical context. One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering culturally-relevant programming and by partnering with culturally-specific organizations. Currently, community partnerships to address elder abuse struggle to meaningfully engage culturally-specific programs, limiting their effectiveness for older African Americans.
A newly released resource—Collaborating for Justice for Older African Americans Guide (herein Collaborating for Justice)—created by the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL) aims to equip professionals working with older adults to build stronger and more equitable collaborations with African American community-based and culturally-specific programs. Through these collaborations, older African Americans impacted by elder abuse will have greater access to effective and culturally responsive services and supports.
This guide presents the invaluable insights of stakeholders from African American culturally-specific programs across the country who shared their expertise, experiences, and deep understanding of the cultural nuances and historical context of services and community collaboration. The guide also reflects the perspectives and experiences of mainstream elder justice professionals regarding benefits and barriers of collaboration with culturally-specific programs.
Components of Collaborating for Justice include:
- A Report on the importance of culturally-specific programs, barriers to collaboration, and guiding principles and associated strategies for building equitable partnerships.
- A Conversation Guide offering guidelines for facilitating a discussion with your elder justice community coordination team on equitable engagement, four discussion prompts, and resources to further your learning.
- A Community Forum Toolkit designed to equip elder justice teams with resources to bring together partners working with and on behalf of older African Americans to develop a shared understanding of the community efforts already occurring and opportunities to further advance elder justice for the African American community. The toolkit includes a Facilitator Guide, sample agendas, and a sample PowerPoint template.
Questions? Please reach out to our team at ncall@ncall.us.
This product was produced by the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life under award #2020-V3-GX-0052, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this resource are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. |
