Elder Affairs Mini-Grant to Fund

Community Education Event for Seniors

The Florida Department of Elder Affairs awarded a mini-grant to Florida Rural Legal Services, Inc. of Lakeland, Florida, to host a community event designed to educate seniors about the legal rights and protections available to them. The $1,000 mini-grant, one of 12 awarded around the state during May’s recognition of Elder Law Month and Older Americans Month, is part of the Department’s recognition that legal needs are increasingly entwined with other issues facing elders today.

While the mini-grant will pay for only a single community event, the Department hopes the collaboration will be part of an ongoing effort between Florida Rural Legal Services and the local aging services network to identify and address the needs and vulnerabilities of seniors in the area.

“More and more often we’re seeing that challenges faced by elders have their roots in more complicated issues that can only be resolved by the legal system” said Sharon Bundrage, Project Director of the Senior Advocacy Unit at Florida Rural Legal Services. “The event we hold will be an important step to teach seniors about the resources available to them.”

Legal issues – and, often, the need for an attorney’s help – can be involved when questions arise over a senior’s shelter, adequate food, public assistance benefits and independence. For example, a legal services provider may be able to determine that an elder’s inability to pay the utility bill is actually the result of losing money in a home repair scam, or that the need for housing assistance stems from a landlord-tenant dispute that led to eviction.

“Elders are helped by understanding that sometimes their problems have legal causes, and can potentially have legal solutions,” said Elder Affairs Secretary E. Douglas Beach. “"These community education events will help spread the word to seniors who can most benefit from it."

The mini-grants were awarded only to legal aid agencies that provide civil legal services to low-income Floridians and to vulnerable and poor older Floridians. The mini-grant recipients will collaborate with their local Area Agency on Aging or other aging network provider. The community education event must focus on a consumer law topic such as consequences to signing a contract, debt collection, scam and fraud awareness, or identity theft.

For more information on the community education event happening near you, contact Sharon Bundrage, Project Director of the Senior Advocacy Unit, at Florida Rural Legal Services, (863) 688-7376, extension 3025.