Elder-Mentor programs gearing up in Bethel

There are three Elder-Mentor programs gearing up in Bethel, at the Bethel Ayaprun Elittnaurvik Elementary School, the ME Elementary School, and at the High School. The program at Bethel Ayaprun Elittnaurvik Elementary is expected to start in fall 2004.

For more information on Elder-Mentor opportunities in Bethel, contact Kelly Powell, Site Supervisor, or Agatha John-Shields, School Principal, at (907) 543-1645.”

http://www.mentoringak.org/bethel.shtml retrieved 2006-07-17

About the Project

The Alaska Mentoring Demonstration Project is a collaborative initiative between the Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Southeast Alaska , Boys and Girls Clubs and the National Senior Service Corps in Alaska, formed to expand successful mentoring programs to youth in remote communities all across the state. The benefits of mentoring include increased self-confidence, improved performance at school, reduced risk for substance abuse and violence, improved family and peer relationships, and a stronger sense of the future. “

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Site Search Tags: schools, Senior+Service+Corps, Bethel, youth

Training Grants Program

OVW: Training Grants Program
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 8:26 AM
To: ELDERABUSE AT MAIL.ABANET.ORG
Subject: [ELDERABUSE] OVW: Training Grants Program (via Elder Care ELDERCARE AT LISTSERV.IHS.GOV)

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has made changes to the Training Grants Program. The following information regarding the FY 2006 solicitation is being released at this time because we will be looking for communities that are interested in developing meaningful collaborations and making a commitment to provide training to criminal justice professionals at all levels (law enforcement, prosecutors, and court personnel) in their community. We want to give advance notice so people can begin thinking about this project and start building the necessary relationships before the solicitation is released.

TRAINING GRANTS TO STOP ABUSE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT AGAINST OLDER INDIVIDUALS OR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAM

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) administers the Training Grants to Stop Abuse and Sexual Assault Against Older Individuals or Individuals with Disabilities Discretionary Grant Program (Training Grants Program). This discretionary grant program was created by the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 to increase and strengthen training for law enforcement, prosecutors, and the judiciary in recognizing, investigating, and prosecuting instances of abuse, neglect, exploitation, domestic violence, and sexual assault against older individuals and individuals with disabilities. OVW will release a solicitation for the Training Grants Program in January 2006. (Funding to support the Training Grants Program in Fiscal Year 2006 is contingent upon Congressional appropriation of funds. Therefore, awards under this program are subject to Congressional appropriation.)

ELIGIBILITY The following entities are eligible to apply to this grant program: States; Tribes; Units of local government; Nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based organizations; State or local government agencies (e.g., prosecutors= offices, sheriffs= offices, courts); Private, nonprofit victim advocacy organizations; Public or private nonprofit service organizations for older individuals or for individuals with disabilities; National criminal justice constituencyorganizations; or Judicial organizations.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Applicants for funding will be required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish and/or strengthen a true and meaningful collaborative relationship with at least four types of organizations/agencies as project partners: a) law enforcement, b) prosecutor’s office, c) a nonprofit, nongovernmental domestic violence victim services program or nonprofit, nongovernmental sexual assault victim services program, and d) a nonprofit program or government agency that serves older individuals). Each partner will send one representative to a train -the -trainer national conference to become certified as a trainer for the project and work as part of a multi-disciplinary training team.

Grantees will encourage judges in their jurisdiction to attend a national judicial training on elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation and fully participate in evaluation of the program. Grantees will also be required to provide letters of commitment from the specific law enforcement agency(ies), prosecutor’s office(s) and/or Federal, State, tribal and local court(s) whose officers and/or staff would be trained stating they willsend appropriate personnel to receive training.

OVW recognizes that it may take time to establish partnerships that will be fully committed to this project as required by the solicitation. OVW is hopeful that the early announcement of this upcoming funding opportunity will allow time to establish the necessary collaborations between criminal justice organizations; domestic violence and sexual violence victim service providers; nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations; and public or private nonprofit service organizations for older individuals or for individualswith disabilities.

The solicitation will include detailed information about specific requirements and funding levels and will be available on the OVW website. If you have any questions concerning the Training Grants Program, pleasecontact Janice Green at (202) 616-6728 or at Janice.A.Green AT usdoj DOT gov.

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Pueblos: Seminar tries to educate elderly about abuse

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/32333.html

….Hosted by the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council and the PeaceKeepers Domestic Violence program at Northern New Mexico Community College in Española, the conference dealt with gambling addiction, health care and legal issues in addition to elder abuse….

[In Bethel we prefer to condemn elders who report neglect of others.]

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Site Search Tags: Bethel, ENIPC, tribes, violence, training,

Letter to the Editor On Neglecting Seniors

On Senior services

• Link: http://deltadiscovery.com/letters/letters.html

The City of Bethel, ONC, and the Senior Center spend nearly a million dollars a year on our “senior programs”. Under the Older Americans Act, these programs are to provide nutrition, transportation, and support services. One of the objectives of the OAA is “Freedom, independence, and the free exercise of individual initiative… and protection against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.”

The state’s Adult Protective Services
http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dsds/apsreport.htm
requires “Any incident in which a vulnerable adult suffers harm from abandonment, abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect.” must be reported.

Who is *Required* to report includes health practitioners, members of the clergy, and law enforcement but also “Employees of service grant agencies funded by Department of Administration for the provision of services to older Alaskans, the Department of Health and Social Services, and the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault”

So, why are some elders in our community, who regularly attend our Senior Center, so neglected that their bodies have deteriorated?

There are only two cabbies left who will transport these elders. If these cabs are on the other side of town when the Eddie Hoffman Senior Center calls for a taxi, these guys feel they have let the elders down, because no one else will convey them.

I want to publicly thank the two Kusko Cab drivers who exemplify the compassion and caring and respect we should all have towards our elders. These two go out of their way to respect the dignity that some elders struggle to retain.

This community spends all this money on senior services, yet these two small businessmen contribute so much more. The rest of us should take the lesson to heart.

M. Pamela Bumsted

Senior Advisory Board member 2003-2004

Making Reports to Adult Protective Services

Senior and Disabilities Services, State of Alaska: Report of Harm form

What Must be Reported to APS?

Any incident in which a vulnerable adult suffers harm from abandonment, abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect.

Is there Immunity from Liability?

Persons who make reports in good faith are immune from liability and protected by law from retaliation.

How is Confidentiality Protected?

Investigatory reports and reports of the abandonment, abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect of a vulnerable adult are confidential and are not subject to public inspection and copying. Investigative reports may be used by appropriate agencies or individuals inside and outside the state in connection with investigations or judicial proceedings involving the abandonment, abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect of a vulnerable adult. Individuals who report abandonment, abuse, exploitation, neglect or self-neglect of a vulnerable adult may remain anonymous.

Who is Required to Report? includes

• Members of the clergy
• Employees of service grant agencies funded by Department of Administration for the provision of services to older Alaskans, the Department of Health and Social Services, and the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
• Any person may report

Guiding Principles of Adult Protection

• When interests compete, the adult client is the person APS is charged to serve; not the community concerned about safety, the landlord concerned about property, citizens concerned about crime or morality, or families concerned about their own health or finances.
• When interests compete, the adult client is in charge of decision-making until she or he voluntarily delegates responsibility to another or the court grants responsibility to another.
• Freedom is more important than safety. The person can choose to live in harm or even self-destructively provided she or he has the capacity to choose, does not harm others, and commits no crime.
• In the ideal case, protection of adults seeks to achieve simultaneously, and in order of importance: freedom, safety, least disruption of life-style and least restrictive care alternative.

• Link: http://www.hss.state.ak.us/dsds/apsreport.htm