New resource in the fight against elder financial fraud
Each year on June 15, we commemorate World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) by sharing resources to help prevent elder financial exploitation. As the fifteenth annual WEAAD approaches, CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger announced a new resource in the fight against elder financial exploitation.
We work with law enforcement, Adult Protective Services, financial institutions, legal aid organizations, senior service providers, and other community stakeholders on the issue of elder financial exploitation. We’ve helped bring stakeholders in nine communities together to form or strengthen collaborative networks with a shared goal of empowering older people to protect themselves from financial harm. Today’s release of the Elder Fraud Prevention and Response Networks Development Guide underscores our commitment to increasing the prevention of and response to elder financial exploitation.
New resource available
The Elder Fraud Prevention and Response Networks Development Guide provides step-by-step materials to help communities form networks to increase their capacity to prevent and respond to this crime.
Specifically, the guide offers planning tools, templates, and exercises to help stakeholders complete the following key tasks in the creation of a new network or to refresh or expand an existing one.
- Plan a stakeholder retreat and training event. A retreat is an effective way to rally stakeholders and community leaders together to create or enhance an existing collaborative network. The guide offers tools for gathering a core team of key community members to help plan logistics and reach out to key community stakeholders.
- Host a retreat. How you conduct a retreat can set the tone for your network. The guide offers group exercises to provide opportunities for collaboration and make sure everyone's voice is heard during a retreat.
- Reconvene and establish your network. After hosting a retreat, it's important to bring community stakeholders back together to determine next steps toward addressing the potential priorities identified at the retreat. The guide provides materials for this follow-up.
- Expand network capabilities. After your network establishes priorities, you’ll be able to use our materials to leverage working groups to reach goals, engage the community, and grow the engagement and influence of the network.
We hope this development guide helps to launch networks in communities where they don’t currently exist, especially where large numbers of older people live. For those communities with an existing network, we encourage the use of the guide to support your network in expanding its capacity to prevent and respond to elder financial exploitation.