wmitchell.edu
The mission of the Center for Elder Justice and Policy is to facilitate teaching and research about aging issues and the rights of society’s elderly population, and to serve Minnesota’s and the nation’s community of senior citizens and their advocates.
An Aging Populace
The nation’s population is aging. The 76 million people born during the Baby Boomer generation are beginning to reach retirement age, signaling the start of considerable change for society. For families, policymakers, and caregivers, the issues involved in this trend are significant. Across the United States, families caring for aging parents at home face related hurdles at work. Vulnerable seniors experience financial exploitation and abuse. Financing long-term care is a perplexing problem for many. Social Security and Medicare are ripe for reform.
By 2050, the number of people 65 years old and older will double, and the population of those 85 and older will nearly quadruple. Yet the systems and structures in place to help seniors and families easily find answers to their questions, and to protect seniors from those who might want to exploit or victimize them, are inadequate and inefficient. The answer is collaboration and communication between advocacy groups, policymakers, and government agencies that assist seniors and their families.
A New Voice for Elder Justice
The Center for Elder Justice & Policy is unique in its collaborative approach to providing advocacy groups with resources, technology, and information critical to creating efficiencies in helping seniors and their families. It serves as a conduit for moving knowledge from an academic setting into the hands of policymakers and advocates who are shaping the very nature of elder law and policy in the coming decades. With a focus on education, research, and public service, the center supports William Mitchell’s rich elder law curriculum, which is one of the most comprehensive in the nation.
The Center’s ongoing projects with organizations such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Elder Care Rights Alliance, the Alzheimer’s Association of Minnesota-North Dakota, and the Minnesota Kinship Caregivers Association have generated scholarly research and materials for consumers on a wide variety of issues affecting seniors and their families and caregivers.