An online guide communities can use to form networks to fight elder fraud, or grow or enhance existing ones, was released Wednesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The “Elder Fraud Prevention and Response Networks Development Guide” offers planning tools, templates, and exercises to help communities create a collaborative network to fight elder fraud or refresh or expand an existing network.
The guide includes a meeting model on how to set up a retreat and training event to rally stakeholders and community leaders. “Retreats planned over this summer, for instance, could happen as early as the fall, and the planning can be implemented remotely via teleconference, supporting engagement in rural communities and in consideration of the need for social distancing,” the bureau said.
It added that the guide also provides resources for reconvening after the retreat to help community leaders take further action to expand network capabilities.
The bureau said it will offer presentations and webinars in the coming weeks to walk stakeholders through the Networks Development Guide and provide tips on how to use it.
The guide was released ahead of the 15th annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), the CFPB noted, which is June 15.
CFPB Releases Tool to Help Communities Prevent and Respond to Elder Fraud