Center for Workforce Inclusion Awards SCSEP Grant for Older Jobseekers

The Center for Workforce Inclusion has awarded the North Central Alabama Regional Council of Governments (NARCOG) Area Agency on Aging a grant that will provide temporary employment for older adults in Cullman, Lawrence and Morgan counties through the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP).

The Center for Workforce Inclusion grant awards the NARCOG SCSEP program $230,057 in funding.

Almost 90 percent of this grant — originally from the U.S. Department of Labor — will provide temporary employment to no less than 43 low-income older adults living in Cullman, Lawrence and Morgan counties. These older adults will participate in the SCSEP program, which is a cornerstone of the Older Americans Act.

“SCSEP was a God send during the COVID-19 pandemic,” NARCOG Executive Director Robby Cantrell said. “SCSEP participants were able to keep training from home. Continuing to receive funds prevented participants from becoming homeless, and now the participants are safely returning to their training sites where they help local community, faith-based, and public agencies carry out their mission, such as the Colony County Public Library, The Link of Cullman County, and Morgan County DHR.  

“By working in SCSEP positions, SCSEP is providing hope and dignity to low-income jobseekers 55 and older who have the toughest employment challenges. The grant from the Center is essential to our being able to deliver this program in our community.”

SCSEP, the only federal job training program targeted exclusively to low-income older jobseekers, promotes personal dignity and self-sufficiency through work. It’s temporary, part-time community service jobs provide a hand-up, not a hand-out for older, unemployed low-income Americans. SCSEP allows eligible persons to participate for up to four years, but nationally, the average tenure is 19 months with the experience and training received leading to permanent employment.

As the joint largest U.S. Deparment of Labor National Grantee of SCSEP, the Center for Workforce Inclusion works through a network of local partners delivering various career training programs for eligible 55-plus-year-old workers in 34 states. To date, the Center has placed more than 90,000 older workers into permanent employment through the SCSEP program.

“Our long-term, local partners are a key to the strength of the Center and provide the systems to train older Americans into strategic advantage for employers and the Country.” said Gary A. Officer, Center for Workforce Inclusion President and CEO.

“We are very pleased to continue our support of the North Central Alabama Regional Council of Governments for the 44th consecutive year.

For more information about NARCOG and the services the agency provides, vistit www.narcog.org or follow the agency at facebook.com/narcogal.