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In honor of Older Americans Month, National Able Network’s Illinois Senior Services Department will be hosting a series of educational trainings about Elder Abuse Awareness with a focus on the financial exploitations and legal rights of seniors. The Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, experts in the field of legal rights for seniors and other marginalized populations, have created these trainings specifically for Able’s Senior Ambassador Program and will be facilitating all five training events!

Able’s Senior Ambassador Program was piloted earlier this program year, with the focus on the Affordable Care Act. Senior Ambassadors are educators and advocates. They are seniors who are trained and educated about different social issues that are relevant to peers in their communities. Their purpose is to provide clear, straight-forward information about these social issues, share resources and facilitate referrals to community based (partner) organizations.

For this project on Elder Abuse Awareness, nine (9) new Illinois Senior Services program clients will be joining the Ambassador Program – bringing the total to 13 Senior Ambassadors! All Ambassadors will go through five 3 hour trainings covering the following topics:

• Protecting Seniors from Abuse and Financial Exploitation (May 1^st) – see photos below!
• Legal Options for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (May 7^th)
• When to File & When Not to File Bankruptcy (May 12^th)
• Foreclosure Prevention, Homeowner Rights, Mortgage or Home Improvement Scams (May 14^th)
• How do we share legal information to seniors and others in our communities? (May 16^th)

After completing these trainings, the Senior Ambassadors will be hosting information seminars on Elder Abuse Awareness for their peers at National Able Network. Dates for these information sessions will be provided soon!

If you would like to support our Senior Services, please click here.