About the National Center

History

Since its inception, the National Center has operated as a unique, multidisciplinary, multi-organizational collaborative of experts in elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, particularly related to multidisciplinary teams. The collaborative nature of the National Center mirrors, in many ways, the work of the grantee teams that we serve.

Over the years, our collective efforts have positioned us at the forefront of providing:

Early conceptualization

On September 8, 2014, elder justice experts and funders in the field gathered in New York City for a symposium hosted by Weill Cornell Medicine’s New York City Elder Abuse Center, the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, and the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, to reflect on the value of MDTs and discuss how to sustain and replicate them nationwide as part of a broader movement for elder justice. One key recommendation from the symposium was to establish a national resource center that would provide technical assistance to teams, develop national standards for training MDT Coordinators and become a “go to” source for best practices and innovations. In response, the Department of Justice established its Elder Justice Initiative’s Elder Abuse MDT TA Center to provide training and consultations to teams.

In 2019, the Office for Victims of Crimes appointed Weill-Cornell Medicine / New York City Elder Abuse to develop and lead the National E-MDT Training and Technical Assistance Center to build on the strong foundation established by experts in the field and bring much-needed resources to OVC-funded E-MDT teams to grow and develop strategically and consistently. This appointment builds on WCM/NYCEAC’s expertise in building and launching E-MDTs across New York City, and scaling teams across 62 New York State, through funding from New York State Office for the Aging, in collaboration with Lifespan of Greater Rochester.