By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Not all senior citizens are ready to relax and take it easy. Some want to keep working, but don’t know how to re-enter the workplace. That’s where the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) comes in.
SCSEP is a paid job-training program that provides a bridge to employment for mature workers. Through the program, participants will receive interviewing and job-search assistance, obtain computer and vocational training to update and build new skills, earn money while they learn at an agency near their home, and gain access to employers who want to hire experienced workers.
“The program has been around for 40 years, but a lot of companies don’t know about it and haven’t heard of it before,” said Deborah Graves, program monitor for the Senior Community Service Employment Program in Aroostook County.
To that end, Graves has sent letters and brochures to various businesses in the region to help spread the message about SCSEP.
“We’re trying to educate the public about what we do,” she said.
The program is open to anyone age 55 or older, lives within federal low-income guidelines, and is willing to improve their job skills and learn new ones.
Mature workers do much of their training through meaningful positions with community service agencies. These non-profit and government service agencies are dedicated to providing training to build real-world skills while the work provided by the trainee directly benefits the community.
“Since the jobs have to be non-profit or government,” said Graves, “that kind of limits the fields to some degree. Most of the people I have working are either in clerical or custodial-type jobs.”
Many training sites hire their trainee after training is completed. Other benefits to the community and training site include:
• additional services to the community that would otherwise be too costly;
• development of skilled workers for both community service agencies and for-profit companies;
• training that improves a senior’s life in profound ways;
• and enhancement of America’s ever-growing mature workplace.
Benefits for employers include:
• non-profit employers: train-to-hire participants for extended periods;
• for-profit employers: train-to-hire participants on-site in the actual job while cost sharing wages for a limited time;
• hire pre-screened, trained, and job-ready workers with demonstrated real-world proficiencies;
• and dependable, responsible, adaptable, and competent new hires.
In Aroostook County, there are 22 participants in the SCSEP program.
“When I started with the program two-and-a-half years ago,” Graves said, “I had five people and now I have 22, so it’s definitely growing. It’s recommended that I have 30 participants, so I’m looking for more mature workers.
“Most people get involved in the program for the additional income,” she said. “There are some who are retired that do it to relieve boredom. They just want to be in the workforce and do something active with their lives instead of just sitting home knitting.”
Once a prospective participant contacts Graves, she determines whether they are eligible or not.
“If they are eligible, I make an appointment with them to do an intake,” she said. “We do 10 or 12 pieces of paperwork that need to be filled out, and within two weeks we have them at a site.”
Presently, Graves has seniors working at town offices, hospitals, ACAP, Central Aroostook Association for Retarded Citizens, Inc., Catholic Charities Maine, the Houlton Higher Education Center, and the Presque Isle and Houlton Career Centers.
Diane Gabriel of Mapleton works at the Presque Isle Career Center. She said she first heard about the Senior Community Service Employment Program through her pastor.
“My pastor at church found an ad for senior employment a year ago and told me about it, and I called someone in Bangor, who directed me to Deborah,” said Gabriel. “It went from there.
“At that time in my life,” she said, “I was having a hard time working full-time and I needed to change my career to something I could manage. I love it here. I’ve been here a year.”
Gabriel said – like other participants – she works 20 hours a week and is paid minimum wage.
“It’s a good training program, and it gives you a lot of contact with different people,” she said. “The program also gives you opportunities to look for other jobs … more permanent jobs. As a participant in the program, I’m supposed to keep looking.”
Gabriel said she would encourage others to consider joining the program.
“For seniors 55 and older who need the training and experience,” she said, “this program gives them the experience they need to start over in a new career. It’s real encouraging for people our age who can’t get out there and start fresh. It’s fun and something to look forward to.”
The Senior Community Service Employment Program is administered by the National Able Network through a grant sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Graves can be reached at the Presque Isle Career Center at 760-6300.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
DIANE GABRIEL of Mapleton is a member of the Senior Community Service Employment Program. She works 20 hours a week at the Presque Isle Career Center and is paid minimum wage. SCSEP is a paid job-training program that provides a bridge to employment for mature workers. Through the program, participants will receive interviewing and job-search assistance, obtain computer and vocational training to update and build new skills, earn money while they learn at an agency near their home, and gain access to employers who want to hire experienced workers. For more information, call Deborah Graves, program monitor for SCSEP in Aroostook County, at 760-6300. 
