Employment program for older workers set to pause

Kay Gibson: SCSEP program has given her a whole new life at the American Indian Center of Springfield.

Jeremy Dean: Drew Lewis Foundation would have to replace SCSEP workers at a cost to programs.

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Editor's Note: After publication of this article, Springfield Business Journal received word of the cancellation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Senior Community Service Employment Program. More information is available here.

A U.S. Department of Labor program that linked older, low-income workers with nonprofit agencies is in limbo.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program offers paid, on-the-job training for people 55 and older who may have recently completed careers in other fields. Eligible participants are unemployed and are at or below 125% of the federal poverty guideline.

Kay Gibson is one of those participants. She’s an office worker at the American Indian Center of Springfield, a nonprofit organization she helped to found and where she serves as a board member. She said the Drew Lewis Foundation Inc., which partners with the center, pointed out the SCSEP program and helped to submit the successful application for Gibson’s hire.

Gibson will be 65 next month, and she had to give up her career as a hairdresser – she has cut hair since she was 17 – when her osteoarthritis made standing long hours at a stylist’s chair impossible.

At the American Indian Center, Gibson coordinates cultural classes and programs all over southwest Missouri, including four annual powwows, drum and bow-making classes, a women’s group and book clubs.

Gibson said she used to devote 30 hours or more each week to the center through the SCSEP program. That was limited to 20 a year ago, and in the last month and a half it was limited to 10. She makes minimum wage, currently set at $13.75 an hour.

The SCSEP program has been a difference-maker for Gibson.

“This position has given me a whole new life,” she said. “I had always stood behind a chair and worked on people’s hair. I never sat at the computer. I’m still not the best, but I’ve learned some of those skills.”

SCSEP program agencies and workers learned only this month that the program might be dissolved.

Information organization KFF reported earlier this month that President Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget outlines his plans to dissolve the Administration for Community Living, which administers programs of the Older Americans Act, including SCSEP, and to integrate its functions into a new agency, the Administration for Children, Families and Communities. Staffing reductions are part of the plan. As Congress debates the budget bill, federal funding already allocated for the program appears to be on hold. SCSEP is allocated about $400 million annually across the U.S.

The AARP Foundation, which administers part of the federal program that funds the wages of the SCSEP workers, sent separate letters to agencies and workers on June 17. The letters came from Washington-based AARP Foundation President Claire Casey.

“The U.S. Department of Labor has informed us that SCSEP is expected to be funded through June 30, 2026. However, the department has not given us the official paperwork we need to keep SCSEP active past June 30, 2025,” both letters state.

The agency letter says the program may need to temporarily suspend participant placements starting July 1.

“This would mean your current SCSEP participants would be unable to continue their training assignments until we received necessary paperwork from the Department of Labor to resume operations,” the agency letter states.

Copies of the agency and participant letters were provided to Springfield Business Journal by Jeremy Dean, director of human resources and facilities for the Drew Lewis Foundation and a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing District 132.

Dean said the idea behind the program is that participants will be paid for a period of job training – usually about six months – and would then start applying for jobs.

Dean said the Drew Lewis Foundation has used SCSEP workers for about a decade. Workers have included a retired teacher who provided secretarial help while training in Microsoft Office and a military veteran and ex-mechanic who helped out in the bike shop at The Fairbanks.

The money has been appropriated by Congress, according to Dean, but it is not being released.

The online publication Stateline, which covers federal policy issues, reported on June 23 that Congress is considering eliminating funding for SCSEP and some other programs established by the 1965 Older Americans Act. It reports the program serves about 50,000 older adults nationally.

The SCSEP program is split between state and national grantees, and DHSS oversees the state grant – about 25% of the program. Receiving federal SCSEP grants – the other 75% – are Goodwill Industries International, National Caucus on Black Aged, SER Jobs for Progres National and the AARP Foundation.

The expected cessation of current SCSEP funding coincides with the next grant period, which begins July 1.

Lisa Cox, communications director for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services,  said the Department of Labor has said a new guidance letter for agencies should be out this week to apply for next year’s grant, and a notice of awards is expected to be announced in July – a fast turnaround.

“We have been told that the funding is at DOL to allot out and that notice of awards will be retroactive back to July 1,” she said.

Cox said she does not have access to federal SCSEP grant numbers, but there are 45 Greene Countians working through the state grant that her office administers.

SBJ was unable to reach a representative of the Greene County AARP SCSEP program by press time.

Essential help
For an AARP Needs Assessment Report prepared for Greene County in 2021, representatives of 44 nonprofit agencies weighed in on issues of the most urgency to them. A shortage of staff and volunteers was a top concern.

The National Conference of Nonprofits’ 2023 Nonprofit Resource Survey, a national measure, reported three out of four nonprofits had existing job vacancies, with 72% saying salary competition impacted their ability to recruit and retain paid workers. Some 66% cited budget constraints as the reason for worker shortages.

Dean said the Drew Lewis Foundation said the loss of SCSEP workers would create a need for the agency.

“We may look as far as having to bring on additional employees, and we have to get that money from somewhere,” he said.

“Something somewhere is obviously going to have to take that cut if we have to do the expense out of our own pocket.”

Dean added that a pause or elimination in the SCSEP program will not only hurt agencies, but also older workers.

“We’re going to continue to see our most vulnerable population continue to go downhill,” he said – “someone who depends on that $500-$600 paycheck to keep the roof over their head or to pay for groceries or medication.”

Cox said most SCSEP workers were averaging 20 hours a week, equating to almost $1,200 per month for participants.

Cox said program participants also have access to supportive services – anything that helps them gain unsubsidized employment.

“Examples include short-term rental assistance to help stabilize housing or end homelessness, gas cards for travel to and from their assignment, clothing appropriate for employment, employment-specific needs (equipment, special clothing, certifications, etc.), dental or medical assistance, etc.,” Cox said via email.

Another program threatened
The AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program, administered locally by the Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation and active in southwest Missouri for half a century, is also awaiting the release of funding to provide services beyond June 30.

In fiscal 2024, the program at OACAC received $322,000 in federal support to place 30 volunteers in schools, where they served 180-plus children from preschool through elementary grades, according to Christopher Bell, program director. The program has shown itself to significantly improve literacy and math outcomes, he said.

A June 17 news release from OACAC quoted George Wells, a participant in the program.

“The Foster Grandparent program saved my life,” Wells said. “When I started 13 years ago, I was sick and could only volunteer four hours a day. All I wanted to do was sit and not do anything.”

As time went on, he said, he grew able to extend his time with the children.

“Today, it is my favorite thing to do each day, teaching and spending time with children,” he said.

OACAC reports the AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent and Senior Companion Programs collectively generate $3.50 in societal return for every dollar invested by funders. Individually, the Foster Grandparent program generates $2.75 per federal dollar.

Lindsey Dumas-Bell, OACAC communications and development director, said the foster grandparents earn a $4-per-hour stipend – not a wage, a fact that allows them to continue accessing Medicaid and other benefits.

“It helps the gaps meet,” she said. “These are all retired seniors on fixed incomes. It does help – it might help with things like food costs, medication or car insurance.”

She added that some volunteers work part-time for 12-15 hours a week, while others volunteer 40 or more hours weekly.

“Our volunteers who are retired still have so much to give back,” she said. “They make a big difference in the lives of children and in classrooms, helping teachers who greatly need that assistance.”