Senior Community Service Employment Program

by Charlotte Kuhn, Senior Employment Program Manager, Salt Lake County Aging Services

By making a difference, you can have a difference made in you. The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is one way to reach for what many think unreachable—i ndependence, economic self-sufficiency and increased opportunity.

SCSEP is a program of the U.S. Department of Labor and is authorized through the Older Americans Act. It grants income-eligible older Americans the opportunity to provide important and worthwhile community service while developing and enhancing job skills needed for the 21st century workforce. Thousands of older workers across our country participate in quality on-the-job training or classroom instruction, learning valuable transferable skills to give them the needed training to compete and secure competitive employment. At the same time, multitudes of non-profit or government agencies benefit from the services these older workers provide.

How does this program work? If you are age 55 or older, unemployed and your income is no more than 125% of the federal poverty rate (you must check to see if you qualify), have poor employment prospects, and are legal to work in the United States, you are eligible to participate in this program. You can find out what organization provides the SCSEP program in your area by contacting your local Workforce Services office, your local area agency on aging, or by going to http://www.hsdaas.utah.gov/.

Once you are deemed eligible for participation, your provider will conduct assessments and interviews with you to determine the direction your program should go. An Individualized Employment Plan will be developed. You will be placed in a host agency (a non-profit or government agency) to provide service while working on your individualized training plan. You will work an average of 20 hours per week and will earn the prevailing wage while you do so. Sometimes, you may be placed in school for a short time if it is determined that a specific course or courses will benefit your individualized training.

While you are participating in this training, you are learning not only specific job skills, but you will be learning how to re-enter the job market, how to market yourself, and how to interview and land that job. The SCSEP program is time-limited with the ultimate goal of placing you in an unsubsidized job.

You may rotate host agencies throughout your tenure to further upgrade and enhance your skills. Program participants are placed in a wide variety of community service positions including day care centers, senior centers, governmental agencies, schools, hospitals, libraries, and landscaping centers. Other training may include: classroom, lectures, seminars, individual instruction, and training through other employment and training programs or community colleges.

The SCSEP program is a bridge spanning what many experience as an employment opportunity chasm. By enhancing the services to our communities while learning valuable job skills, over 90,000 people will be served this year nationwide. Thousands and thousands of these people will go on to gain their independence and economic self-sufficiency by securing higher paid unsubsidized jobs.