Building Bridges to Protect Seniors from Financial Abuse

Description

The purpose of this study is to determine how well known the services of the Community Counselling and Resource Centre (CCRC) are to the people of the Peterborough community, along with organizations and professionals in the community who serve the aging/senior population. The CCRC is a non-profit organization that provides credit counselling services, among others, to the community. The Peterborough community has the largest senior population in Canada at 19.5%. Senior financial abuse is prevalent in society and is determined to be the 3rd most prevalent type of senior abuse. Non-profit organizations are competing in a growing commercial environment. Three stages of interviews were conducted with staff at the CCRC, other community non-profit credit counselling agencies, and community members who work directly with senior members of the community. These interviews examined the problems that the Peterborough community was facing, why these problems occurred, and what problems were occurring in other communities. Interviews determined there is little to no knowledge of the CCRC’s credit counselling services in Peterborough. The CCRC has a lack of funds to complete accurate advertising in the community. These problems are not limited to Peterborough and also appeared in other communities. The findings demonstrate that there is a high need for more advertising in the community. To help combat these issues, the CCRC should hire volunteers for marketing, allocate more funds to advertising, prepare public education in the senior community, and establish community connections., By Leah Cino, Date of Project Submission: April 2016., Completed for: Community Counselling and Resource Centre (CCRC); Supervising Professor: Sharon Beaucage-Johnson; Trent Community Research Centre Project Coordinator: John Marris, FRSC 4080Y - Community-Based Research Project