WMU-Cooley Law School Elderlaw Clinic receives three large grants

WMU-Cooley Law School’s Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic was recently awarded nearly $54,000 in grants to prevent the financial exploitation of senior citizens in the Ingham County and surrounding areas.

 The clinic received $33,000 from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Aging and Adult Services Agency PREVNT Initiative. The Capital Region Community Foundation awarded $10,950, and the Ingham County Regional Community Trust granted and additional $10,000 toward the initiative.

 “It is all too common that we hear of senior citizens getting scammed out of much of their life savings by individuals who prey solely on the elderly,” said Kimberly O’Leary, WMU-Cooley professor and director of the Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic. “Through the work of Sixty Plus and its law students, the grants will help create awareness of this issue and assist in the prevention of the elderly being victimized.”

 WMU-Cooley’s Sixty Plus, Inc., Elderlaw Clinic provides legal help to persons 60 years of age or older primarily in Ingham, Eaton or Clinton county. There are no income guidelines for this program, however the clinic does give priority to individuals with the greatest social and economic need. The non-profit clinic has been helping the aging in Eaton, Ingham and Clinton Counties for over 30 years.