About
Justice in Aging is a national legal advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC, that uses the power of law to fight senior poverty by securing access to affordable health care, economic security, and the courts for older adults with limited resources. Founded in 1972 as the National Senior Citizens Law Center, the organization has spent more than five decades advocating for low-income older Americans, with a particular focus on populations that have traditionally lacked legal protection, including women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and people with limited English proficiency.
Mission
Justice in Aging uses the power of law to fight senior poverty by securing access to affordable health care, economic security, and the courts for older adults with limited resources.
What they do
The organization works through a three-part approach:
- Trainings and publications — training tens of thousands of attorneys, advocates, and service providers each year on the rights and benefits of low-income older adults
- Administrative advocacy — advocating at the local, state, and federal levels to fix systemic problems in programs older adults rely on
- Litigation — filing class action lawsuits to force policy changes when advocacy alone is not enough
Its focus areas include affordable health care, economic security, access to the courts, long-term care, and retirement security. In 2021 it launched a Strategic Initiative to Advance Equity in Aging, addressing how structural racism, ageism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and xenophobia affect older adults.
History
The organization was founded in 1972, when Terry Hatter, Director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles, applied to the federal Office of Economic Opportunity to create a national legal "back-up center" for seniors. Paul Nathanson became the first executive director in 1973, when offices opened in Washington, DC and Sacramento and the organization filed its first lawsuit, Ponce v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust. Milestones include helping launch the nursing home reform movement in 1980, playing a key role in drafting and passing the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, securing a $5.5 million age-discrimination settlement in Evans v. the U.S. State Department in 2000, and stopping a Social Security Administration practice in 2009, restoring $750 million in Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits. In 2019 its advocacy helped make SSI recipients in California eligible for CalFresh food benefits. The organization was renamed Justice in Aging in 2015.
Financials
Per the organization's Form 990 for the fiscal year ending June 2025 (via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer): total revenue of $6,852,593 (94.6% from contributions and grants), total expenses of $7,729,084, and net assets of $9,340,862. Justice in Aging is a 501(c)(3) organization (EIN 95-3132674), and donations are tax deductible.