Minnesota Elder Justice Center Development and Coordination of Enhanced Multidisciplinary Teams in four Minnesota Communities: Clay County, Olmsted County; Tri-County Tribal (White Earth Nation, Becker County, Clearwater County and Mahnomen County); and St. Louis County.

The purpose of this award, funded under the OVC FY 2019 Transforming America's Response to Elder Abuse: Coordinated, Enhanced Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) for Older Victims of Abuse and Financial Exploitation Program, is to support elder abuse multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) as enhanced MDT’s (E-MDTs) at the rural, tribal, local or state levels, including existing and new teams. Through this solicitation, OVC seeks to support organizations which demonstrate innovative strategies to create, expand, or enhance the use of technology initiatives on a national scale or that can be replicated nationally to improve response, services, and access for victims of crime. This project will enhance responses to victims by supporting four community MDTs through direct coordination, developing and elevating their current practices. The Minnesota Elder Justice Center (MEJC) proposes to begin this work collaboratively with four different communities in greater Minnesota - each of whose MDT is at a different stage of development: Tri-County Tribal MDT, a joint effort between Clearwater County, Mahnomen County, Becker County, and White Earth Nation; St. Louis County, who will solidify their practices and work by having a coordinator assist them in advancing to be a well-resourced and functioning MDT; Olmsted County, who will continue building a well-resourced MDT into an EMDT with additional stakeholder involvement and more formalized processes; and Cass/Clay Counties, who will offer an opportunity to demonstrate the positive outcomes of enhanced data gathering, analysis, and evaluation in a transborder program (Minnesota and North Dakota). These communities represent and contain a diverse range of locales from rural to urban, and offer an opportunity to explore these questions outside the comparatively well-resourced Twin Cities metropolitan area. In addition, the project will evaluate what support is required to enhance the work of elder abuse multidisciplinary teams at various stages of existence, from new to established. Finally, the project will develop best-practice recommendations for structural and substantive inclusions in the work of enhanced multidisciplinary teams in Minnesota.