Philadelphia’s Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of Elders is closing next week after nearly 50 years
The nonprofit had lost two of its largest contracts to provide long-term care ombudsman services for the elderly in most of Philadelphia and in Montgomery County.
Philadelphia’s nonprofit Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of Elders, known as CARIE, is closing next Wednesday after nearly 50 years, the organization’s board announced Tuesday in an email to supporters.
Few details were available on what led to the decision to close abruptly the day before Thanksgiving. CARIE’s new executive director, Brian Gralnick, did not reply to an email or voicemail asking for more information.
Board chair Joan Davitt, an associate professor and geriatric scholar at the University of Maryland School of Social Work who lives in the Philadelphia area, also did not respond to requests for comment.
The organization lists 26 employees on its website. Its most recent audited financial statements show that it had $2.9 million in revenue and a $177,307 operating loss in the year that ended June 30, 2024.
An unaudited financial report for the seven months that ended in January warned that CARIE “was facing financial risks, including the potential default on its line of credit.” At the end of January, CARIE only had enough cash to pay its bills for two weeks, the report obtained by The Inquirer said.
This year, CARIE lost two of its largest contracts, effective next year. Those contracts were to provide long-term care ombudsman services for the elderly in most of Philadelphia and in Montgomery County. An ombudsman’s job is to provide independent advocacy for residents of long-term care facilities and to help resolve complaints about care and living conditions.
In Philadelphia, CARIE had provided the service since 1981, four years after its founding. Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, which manages the contracts, is still finalizing the selection of the new providers.
CARIE started providing ombudsman services in Montgomery County in 2022, but the county’s Office of Aging Services is taking the service back in-house on Feb. 1.
CARIE has lacked stability in senior leadership since the retirement of Diane Menio in March 2023. Menio had been executive director for 34 years.
Menio’s successor, Whitney Lingle, lasted just 19 months. She was followed by an internal acting executive director for a year. Gralnick took over in September.