A federal program that provides job training for low-income older adults is starting back up in several New Hampshire counties, after federal funding delays last summer and the program administrator closing left it in limbo.
The Senior Community Service Employment Program assists older adults across the country as they learn resume writing, computer skills, and obtain other information or certifications they may need to get back in the workforce. The participants have to be 55 or older, low income, unemployed and have some barrier to getting a job. It also matches senior participants with paid volunteer work at nonprofits and agencies where they can get modern job experience.
For older adults, it’s a social and financial support. And these workers and volunteers help organizations keep running smoothly.
Scott Silva, the Nashua site manager for Meals on Wheels, said his organization relies on the participants' help for cooking, packing and serving meals.
“During the summer last year, we ended up having to cut back on community dining [programs],” Silva said. “We just didn't have anybody to cover the kitchen for the afternoon.”
A new administrator, Associates for Training & Development (A4TD), is now coordinating the program for much of New Hampshire. The group already coordinates the senior training program in other states, including nearby Vermont and Maine.
Rick Bugbee with A4TD has been traveling around the state this month to meet with older adults who were previously enrolled in the training. He said participants come from a range of career and educational backgrounds.
“We're serving people that have held the same job for 30 years. They retired, and then they realized they need to go back to work,” Bugbee said. “We are helping people, on the flip side, that have had a hard time sustaining employment over the course of their life.”
Participants are paid the state’s minimum wage – $7.25 an hour in New Hampshire – to attend training sessions and volunteer, with the eventual goal of landing a permanent job.
That’s Nazia Iftikhar’s goal. She’s 75 and a former teacher living in Nashua. She stopped working to take care of her mother during the pandemic, but now she feels ready to get back into the workforce.
“I would love to work in an office,” she said. “No more teaching. It's tough. It's for younger people.”
To do that, she’s hoping to enroll in computer skills courses.
“I would love to do that because it's all about technology now, you know?”
With the program back in New Hampshire, Associates for Training & Development is expecting to start job trainings in May.
