Project Guardianship Inc

Project Guardianship (PG) was founded in 2005 by the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) and New York’s Office of Court Administration (OCA) to address an injustice in our guardianship system: residents in need of a legal guardian but without family members or friends to serve or funds to pay for a private service were unable to access good guardianship. As a program of Vera for its first 15 years, PG perfected a person-centered model of guardianship that prioritizes the dignity and maximizes the independence of those in our care. In 2020, we spun off from Vera and established our own 501(c)(3) status, board of directors, and strategic plan. In doing so, we committed to pursuing systemic change to keep New Yorkers out of the guardianship system unnecessarily and ensure good, affordable guardianship for those who need it.

PG’s work falls into three categories: guardianship services, guardianship alternatives, and guardianship reform. On services, PG serves as court-appointed guardian for 200 New Yorkers who have experienced an event in their lives that caused them to lose decision-making capacity such as onset of disability, dementia, serious mental illness, traumatic brain injury, or another conditions that impacts their ability to manage daily activities. PG builds trust with clients and develops an understanding of their values. Each client is assigned a multidisciplinary team that includes an attorney, a case manager, a finance associate, and benefits and housing specialists. Our teams work together and with the client to make decisions in the interest of their health, safety, and wellbeing. If our services help a client regain decision-making capacity, we move to terminate the guardianship. 

To ensure that guardianship remains a tool of last resort as intended, PG launched a free, language-accessible Helpline in 2023. Users call, email, or complete a web form to reach a staff attorney, who offers information, guidance, and referrals, with a focus on promoting less restrictive alternatives to guardianship. Since its founding, the Helpline has served more than 3,000 New Yorkers.

PG also develops programmatic alternatives to guardianship. In 2025, PG launched New York City's first-ever agency Power of Attorney (POA) pilot program, granting aging New Yorkers access to POAs even when they do not have someone in their lives to appoint. PG's POA program will enable older adults to plan for their financial futures and reduce the likelihood of being appointed a guardian down the line.

Because guardianship is governed by the state, our advocacy is primarily focused on state agencies and legislators. However, approximately 60 percent of people with guardians – over 17,000 individuals – live in New York City. In 2022, we published a policy agenda and founded a coalition of nonprofit guardianship providers and allies (Guardianship Access New York or GANY) dedicated to improving access to good, person-centered guardians for New Yorkers without family or funds, and to promoting less-restrictive alternatives. In 2025, we supported the introduction of the Good Guardianship Act, a bill that would establish a Statewide Initiative of Nonprofit Guardians (SING), guaranteeing any person who needs a guardian access to high-quality care. In 2026, we secured a major budgetary win with the announcement of a $7 million investment by the Office of Court Administration in nonprofit guardianship services statewide.