In our 2013 New Face of New York’s Seniors report, we recommended that the city’s Department for the Aging (DFTA) increase its support for culturally and linguistically competent services. Based on our conversations with community leaders, our report argued that one of the most important things DFTA can do is to write a RFP that requires these supports.

In 2014, NYC’s Department for the Aging (DFTA) received increased funding to do just that. In DFTA’s first increase to its budget since 2009, the agency has been charged with creating a new RFP for elder abuse programs, one that specifically urges applicants to demonstrate how their services would be culturally and linguistically competent and provides guidelines for subcontracting to smaller organizations that can reach out to ethnic groups.