Governor Hochul Appoints Local Experts to Advisory Committee Tasked with Developing State’s First-Ever Master Plan for Aging.
Contact: Kelly Barrett Sarama, Esq.
Title: Director of Development & Communications
Tel: (716) 853-3087 x229
Email: ksarama@elderjusticeny.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BUFFALO AND ALBANY, NEW YORK - Karen L. Nicolson, Esq, CEO of the Center for Elder Law & Justice, was appointed by Governor Hochul to the stakeholder advisory committee of New York State’s Master Plan for Aging Council. Nicolson is one of 28 statewide experts who will help guide the development of the state’s first-ever Master Plan for Aging, which aims to empower older New Yorkers so they may live healthy, fulfilling lives while aging with dignity and independence.
The Master Plan on Aging and its advisory committee were initiated through an executive order signed by Governor Hochul last November and includes stakeholders who represent community based-organizations, foundations, health care and social service providers, experts on aging, and others. The committee will guide the state’s efforts "to ensure aging New Yorkers have access to quality long term care in healthy, livable communities where they can thrive," said Governor Hochul. Nicolson is uniquely qualified to advise on aging matters, having served as the CEO of the Center for Elder Law & Justice since February 2000, an organization whose primary goal is to "use the legal system to allow our clients to live independently and with dignity."
The committee will gather input from community experts and the public through a series of stakeholder engagement sessions and will also engage in regional listening sessions in the coming months. The goal of these sessions is to provide an opportunity for direct input from the public on issues that matter to them as well as proposed solutions.
Said Nicolson, "I applaud Governor Hochul for taking significant action to make healthy aging a priority for New York State. We are humbled at the Center for Elder Law & Justice (CELJ) to be able to participate in this important and necessary work. Having provided free legal services to older, disabled, and low-income adults in WNY for over 40 years, we have seen first-hand the positive changes that come to communities who empower older adults. The older adults who built our communities deserve to take part in them."
Nicolson currently serves on the NYS Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Aid, the President’s Committee on Access to Justice and co-chairs the Live Well Erie County Task Force, Older Adults Subcommittee. She is a member of the Health Foundation of Western New York’s 8th cohort of Health Leadership Fellows and was recently nominated as a finalist for the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo’s Cause Award. Read more about Nicolson’s dynamic contributions to community aging matters on CELJ’s website.
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At CELJ (pronounced CELL-JAY) (Center for Elder Law & Justice), we advocate for justice at all stages of life to ensure that our clients may live independently and with dignity. Since 1978, our team of lawyers, paralegals, and social workers has provided comprehensive free legal services to the WNY community’s older adults, individuals with disabilities, and financially eligible population. We serve as guardian for court-appointed older adults and people with disabilities, most of whom experienced abuse in the past. We are a trustee for WNY Coalition Pooled Trusts, which takes individuals out of the cycle of poverty, by allowing them to live in the community and maintain a comfortable quality of life. CELJ’s main office is located in Buffalo, New York, and we have satellite offices in Niagara and Chautauqua counties, as well as medical-legal partnerships at Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo General Medical Center, and John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital.
