Recognizing the challenges many older Americans are facing in today's economic climate, HHS Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee, on behalf of the Administration on Aging, has launched a new Web site for the National Legal Resource Center (NLRC).

The NLRC was created in 2008 by the Administration on Aging (AoA) to empower legal and aging services advocates with the resources necessary to provide high quality legal help to seniors who are facing direct threats to their ability to live independently in their homes and communities. The new Web site can be accessed at http://www.nlrc.aoa.gov

"It is important that legal and aging service providers have easy access to the wide range of support resources the NLRC has to offer," said Assistant Secretary Kathy Greenlee. "The new NLRC Web site creates a much needed resource portal to critical support tools designed to help providers serve older consumers facing difficult legal issues impacting their independence and financial security."

The NLRC is a collaborative project involving five national non-profit organizations known for their work in legal and aging services support who have teamed up to better help people in need. The new NLRC Web site provides professionals and advocates in aging and law with streamlined access to important resource support including case consultation and training on the most difficult legal issues facing older persons.

State offices on aging and local community-based aging organizations can also gain Web site access to technical assistance for efficient, cost-effective and targeted provision of legal services to older persons in the most social or economic need.

AoA funds over 1,000 legal services providers nationwide, which provide nearly one million hours of legal assistance per year. Legal challenges faced by seniors may include the loss of their homes through foreclosure, consumer scams that destroy nest eggs and steal identities, and difficulties in accessing public benefits essential to remaining financially secure, independent, and healthy .

The five national non-profit organizations of the NLRC are:

• National Senior Citizens Law Center
   (http://www.nsclc.org)
• National Consumer Law Center
  (http://www.consumerlaw.org)
• The Center for Social Gerontology
  (http://www.tcsg.org)
• The Center for Elder Rights Advocacy
  (http://www.legalhotlines.org); and
• American Bar Association-Commission on Law and Aging
  (http://www.abanet.org/aging)  

More information on the new Web site and the National Legal Resource Center is available by contacting Omar.Valverde@aoa.hhs.gov