December 1, 2025
ACL has awarded a total of $393,113 for the first year of three new two-year cooperative agreements addressing elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation in tribal communities. Award recipients will support the development and advancement of knowledge and approaches to addressing new and emerging issues related to tribal elder justice. Recipients will focus on identifying innovative, new, or novel ideas, programs, or approaches to develop or enhance adult protective services (APS) to address abuse, neglect, and exploitation in tribal communities.
- The Comanche Nation will focus on preventing and raising awareness of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation in the tribal community. The program seeks to broaden and enhance services for at-risk tribal elders, addressing the prevalence of elder abuse in their tribal community by identifying the lack of culturally appropriate information and educational materials regarding elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and strengthening tribal APS codes that address and detect elder maltreatment within their communities.
- The Kodiak Area Native Association plans to expand and improve protective services for elders who experience abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It will develop Kodiak-specific resources that empower service providers and community members in the prevention, intervention, and response to issues through a Kodiak-based elder abuse case review multidisciplinary team, prevention training, and building local capacity to sustain prevention and response activities.
- The Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa plans to incorporate a culturally grounded initiative to identify the prevalence and nature of elder abuse as well as access gaps in prevention and response systems. The initiative will also facilitate the development of multidisciplinary elder justice activities to protect the dignity, safety, and well-being of tribal elders. The program seeks to address the cultural facets of elder abuse by:
- Identifying the lack of culturally appropriate educational materials and outreach
- Developing Red Cliff-specific elder abuse/protection code of law
- Creating and implementing training modules for tribal departments on elder abuse detection and prevention
- Partnering with tribal, state, and national organizations to identify trends and improve responses
Contact Sonya.Begay@acl.hhs.gov with questions.
See Notice of Funding Opportunity: HHS-2025-ACL-AOA-EJIG-0042, "Tribal Adult Protective Services Demonstration," posted July 30, 2025.