Carla Dent and Myra Vance from Region 8 have put out the call for more seniors.
Dent oversees the Senior Community Service Employment Program while Vance operates the Foster Grandparent Program for Region 8 Economic Planning and Development Council. This entity serves the Potomac Highlands counties from its Petersburg base. Both senior programs provide potential financial support, as well as chances to stay active and connected to community.
“SCSEP is federally funded to help to encourage unemployed residents 55 and older to build skills and confidence,” said Dent, who added that its intention lies in connecting seniors eventually to part- or full-time work.
As the United States Department of Labor, which supports the program, explains, it “is a community service and work-based job training program for older Americans.” Authorized by the Older Americans Act, it gives low or no income unemployed seniors “access to employment assistance.”
Training assignments usually take seniors to local nonprofits for an average of 29 hours per week. Through the training, they receive a minimum wage stipend. Dent assures seniors that those who receive a “stipend,” as opposed to a salary, will not have that money counted against any government support programs.
“It will not affect your benefits at all,” stated Dent.
She called it a win-win for both the senior and the participating nonprofits who “get support from dedicated individuals” in fulfilling their missions. Additionally, “seniors bring a lifetime of knowledge, experience, and work ethic” but may face challenges when trying to get back into the workforce. SCSEP provides a “bridge” to take them over divides of technology, new ideas, and other changes to the workplace that have happened during the years and decades.
Dent provided an example of an individual who had left the workforce long ago when she got married. When her husband and another close family member passed, however, it left her in difficult circumstances. With little education and work experience, Dent said, “It was difficult for her to face those barriers until SCSEP helped to give her a pathway.”
Others find that they need new job skills when they encounter health problems or injuries. One trainee had suffered from a stroke that left the person with some limitations, but they still found help through SCSEP.
Dent lauded the recent participation of Grant County Nursing Home and their desire to help, but noted that they still needed more participating non profits.
Another opportunity for low income seniors to earn stipends comes through the Foster Grandparent Program. Like SCSEP, those who work with the FGP will not see their benefits affected by payment of the stipend.
The FGP started six decades ago, but suffers from confusion. As Vance explains, “The Foster Grandparent Program has nothing to do with foster children or foster care. FGP participants never take children anywhere outside of the school environment.”
Conversely, FGP serves as an early version to the recent Communities in Schools program. FGP brings older seniors into schools to work with children, often with special needs, academic challenges, or coming from problematic homes. They step in to help when teachers and their aides are addressing needs of the entire class.
Caring for these children may mean helping to tutor them, listening to them when they have had a hard day, or engaging a quiet and shy child in conversation to get them to open up. Seniors often have a special knack for reaching children when others cannot.
Like SCSEP, the program pays a minimum wage stipend to low income seniors who qualify. Those who do not qualify for a stipend are still welcome to volunteer with the program, and many do so. Unlike SCSEP, they also receive mileage reimbursement and even vacation.
Vance needs more participants with a little over 30 in a program established for more than 50. Should numbers not grow, the program could get cancelled.
Both programs serve as ways to help seniors remain active and connected to community. Almost every study reports that these aspects help to promote more years of independent living and quality of life in seniors.
For general information about the programs go to the Region 8 website at regioneight.org. For questions about the Senior Community Service Employment Program, contact Dent at 304-257-2448. To get additional information about the Grandparent Program, call Vance at 1-800-296-1221 or 304-257-1221.
