ACL's FY2027 Elder Justice Slate: $8.25 Million, Four Forecasts, One May 17 Deadline, and a Guardianship Round for Six State High Courts
October 28, 2026 · 6 min read
Granted Research Team · Editorial policy
ACL's October 19, 2026 batch of FY2027 forecasts included four elder justice competitions. They share an estimated posting date (March 15, 2027), an estimated deadline (May 17, 2027), and an estimated start date (September 1, 2027). Together they total $8.25 million:
| Forecast | Number | Est. total | Awards | Award range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elder Justice Innovation Grants FY2027 | HHS-2027-ACL-AOA-EJIG-0013 | $3,500,000 | 10 | $250,000–$500,000 |
| Grants to Highest State Courts to Improve Guardianship | HHS-2027-ACL-AOA-EJIG-0011 | $2,500,000 | 6 | $200,000–$500,000 |
| National Adult Protective Services Training Center | HHS-2027-ACL-AOA-EJRC-0015 | $1,250,000 | 1 | $1,000,000–$1,250,000 |
| National Center on Elder Abuse Resource Center | HHS-2027-ACL-AOA-ABRC-0012 | $1,000,000 | 1 | $856,250–$1,000,000 |
All four flag cost sharing as required. Two are open competitions where a newcomer can win. The other two are single national cooperative agreements, where an incumbent has been running the center and a challenger needs a very strong reason to compete.
A fifth forecast from the same batch belongs with these: Evaluating Innovative Community Based Nutrition Models (HHS-2027-ACL-AOA-INNU-0014), with $2.2 million for five awards of $400,000 to $439,520, due around April 30, 2027. It is not an elder justice program. It does reach the same senior-services organizations, and its deadline falls two weeks before the others.
Elder Justice Innovation Grants: Ten Slots, Open Topic
The Elder Justice Innovation Grants (EJIG) program funds "new and emerging approaches to issues related to elder justice." Funded projects must produce something that can be "widely disseminated and/or replicated" or add to the evidence base. The forecast does not name a topic, so the March NOFO will set the focus.
The open topic is unusual, and the past rounds explain why it matters. ACL has used the EJIG label for very different things:
- 2021: 14 two-year grants totaling nearly $5.9 million, funded by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. Seven went to state high courts for guardianship work, and seven funded APS-to-community transitions. Grantees included Benjamin Rose Institute with Utah APS, Purdue, Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Hebrew Home at Riverdale's elder shelter, UC Irvine's ENDEAR program with the Orange County Public Guardian, the Iowa Department on Aging, and Stanislaus County's Community Service Agency.
- 2022: About $2 million over three years to the high courts of Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.
- 2024: "Option 2" of the FY2024 EJIG NOFO went to five state and territorial high courts.
In FY2027, ACL split guardianship into its own forecast. The general EJIG pool, $3.5 million for ten awards, is therefore open to the kinds of applicants that won the 2021 APS-transitions track: universities, AAAs, county APS agencies, elder shelters, legal services providers, and faith-based or community organizations. The forecast says the last two are explicitly eligible.
How to position an EJIG application before the topic is known: Every past EJIG winner had an operating partner, usually APS or a court, plus a plan to measure results that would satisfy an evaluator. Line up both now. Then build a concept that can be bent toward whatever the NOFO names. Financial exploitation, scam and fraud recovery, self-neglect, and post-APS case-closure services are the areas where ACL has funded before and where the field still lacks evidence. Be ready to rewrite your framing in late March.
Guardianship: Six State High Courts
The guardianship forecast is unlike any other ACL program, because the statute decides who can apply. The forecast cites Elder Justice Act Section 2042(b), which restricts eligibility to the highest court in each state. A trial court, bar association, or legal aid organization cannot be the applicant. They can only be partners.
The allowed activities are specific:
- Assess guardianship and conservatorship proceedings for "fairness, effectiveness, timeliness, safety, integrity, and accessibility"
- Implement the changes those assessments find necessary
- Build systems that make filing simpler for guardians and conservators and help courts "identify discrepancies and detect fraud and the exploitation of protected persons"
The size of this round matters. ACL's 2024 round funded five courts (Arizona, Guam, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota) with just over $1.8 million in the first of three years. The 2022 round funded three courts with about $2 million over three years. FY2027's $2.5 million for six courts has more slots than either of those rounds. Only the 2021 COVID-relief round, with seven courts, funded more. Some states have also won more than once: Massachusetts and Minnesota won in both 2021 and 2024.
So the competition is between a state that has never been funded and one that has already finished an assessment and is ready to implement. Past awards suggest ACL funds both:
- First-time states should propose the assessment. Kansas and Pennsylvania both won with assessment-first projects. Partner with your state's WINGS (Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders) group if one exists, because it gives you stakeholders ready to work on day one.
- Repeat states should propose implementation based on their earlier findings: guardianship diversion (Massachusetts 2024), a complaint examiner program (Minnesota 2024), or a probate case-management system with fraud detection (Arizona 2024, Virginia 2022). The forecast's language about systems that "detect fraud and the exploitation" fits case-management technology closely.
The deadline problem for courts: An administrative office of the courts usually needs approval from the chief justice or judicial council to apply for federal funds, and a court's procurement rules can be slower than an executive agency's. If the NOFO posts March 15 and closes May 17, that leaves nine weeks. Get approval to apply in principle during the winter.
The Two National Centers
The other two forecasts are single cooperative agreements that recompete existing national resources.
National APS Training Center ($1 million to $1.25 million, one award). The center builds the capacity of APS professionals through online learning delivered on a web-based learning management system, with a focus on evidence-informed practice, leadership development, and APS agency culture. ACL's 2021 award for this center went to the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), at nearly $1.5 million over two years. A challenger would need its own training content, a working LMS, and ties to state APS administrators. In practice, few organizations besides NAPSA, a university social work school, or a large training firm can bid credibly.
National Center on Elder Abuse ($856,250 to $1 million, one award). NCEA provides information, resources, and training on preventing and responding to elder abuse, neglect, exploitation, frauds, and scams for professionals and the public. One detail stands out. The forecast's eligibility field reads: "No entities are eligible for this award, only individuals are eligible to apply." That is almost certainly template text pasted by mistake. It conflicts with the same record's statement that "faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are eligible," and no individual could run a national resource center. Do not rely on it, and do not drop a bid because of it. The posted NOFO's eligibility section will control. If the wording carries over into the NOFO, email the listed ACL contact for a correction before you build the application.
Why the Forecasts Matter This Year
These four forecasts are worth taking seriously because elder justice is one of the few ACL areas where Congress appears ready to spend more. NCOA's September 2026 appropriations tracker reports that the House FY2027 bill gives "Elder Rights and Protections for Vulnerable Older Americans" a slight increase. Many other aging lines are flat. That contrasts with the administration's push to merge ACL into a new Administration for Children, Families, and Communities, which Congress has not adopted. ACL is operating at roughly half its former staff.
Two things follow. First, a small ACL staff that posts forecasts five months early is signaling that it plans to run these competitions on schedule. Second, the government is on a continuing resolution through December 11, 2026, so all of these dates depend on how FY2027 appropriations are resolved. A short-term CR into spring could push the March 15 posting back.
A Timeline That Works
- November–December 2026: Subscribe to the forecast numbers on Grants.gov. Courts: get internal approval to apply. EJIG applicants: sign up your APS or court partner and your evaluator.
- January–February 2027: Draft the logic model and budget. Confirm the cost-share source, because all four forecasts require one. Check SAM.gov registration, since a lapse can stop an application in March.
- March 15 (est.): NOFO posts. Read the EJIG topic and the final eligibility language for NCEA right away.
- May 17 (est.): Applications due.
- September 1 (est.): Projects start.
If you are drafting an EJIG concept or a court's guardianship assessment plan this winter, Granted can turn the forecast language into a review-ready outline now and update it to match the NOFO when it posts.