AKRON, Ohio — A long-standing program that helps employ hundreds of local seniors is facing a sudden crisis as a delay in the release of federal funding has led to a pause in the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
It has caused financial and emotional stress for both the older workers and several area non-profits.
Pantry on the Corner in Cuyahoga Falls needs more help than usual after three seniors who handled clerical work, made phone calls and took care of food orders were furloughed.
"Losing the three staff is vital," said Jeanette Valentine, the administrator of the pantry and the pastor of Journey Covenant Church.
Valentine is also concerned for the well-being of the seniors who have worked for SCSEP, and suddenly don't have the money that they've counted on, coming in.
"We've got to take people at heart," Valentine said. "These are people that are capable of working and functioning, and going back to solitude and loneliness."
Vantage Aging, based in Akron, is an administrator of the program in Ohio and Indiana.
Tammy Bigler, the director of workforce development for Vantage Aging, said the senior work program started more than 50 years ago as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty.
Bigler said over 90% of the seniors in the program have incomes at or below the poverty level, and over 70% of them receive public assistance.
Through the senior work program, Vantage Aging helps low-income older adults find minimum wage jobs that allow them to work 20 hours a week. Some of the employment opportunities include Goodwill Industries, the Akron Zoo and Habitat for Humanity.
However, the money used to pay these workers comes from the U.S. Department of Labor, and Bigler said a delay in the release of federal funds has put a pause on the program in Ohio, causing financial stress for the seniors.
"That's over $200 a week that they're losing. That means that they're having trouble paying for their food, their housing, transportation," Bigler said. "It's putting them through a lot of emotional stress. A bunch of them mention depression."
About 270 local seniors have been impacted by the pause in the work program, including Visa Bowen, who was working as an administrative assistant at the Akron non-profit Fathers and Sons of Northeast Ohio.
"It's a cruel world out here," Bowen said.
Vantage Aging sent a letter to the seniors, stating that they are no longer allowed to attend their work training sites, effective July 1.
"When it ended in June, June 30, I didn't know what I was going to do as I no longer had any help," Bowen said.
The U.S. Department of Labor sent the following statement regarding the delay in funding:
On July 1, 2025, the Department of Labor published the Program Year 2025 allotments for SCSEP state and territorial grantees, totaling $85,869,039. These grantees are submitting their grant budgets and their application for federal funding, and the Department will then award their funds. The Department is reviewing the remaining $307,072,086 available funding for national grantees and will provide an update soon.
The Department has given all SCSEP grantees a period of performance extension, so that if grantees have funding available from their Program Year 2024 grant, they can still use these funds to continue program operations.
The Employment and Training Administration is preparing to award grants shortly after state and territorial grantees submit their required budget documents. The Department will support grantees in their operations and services to participants
In the meantime, Bowen had to find a different job and now works in retail. She hopes the senior work program returns soon.
"Please work something out. Carry this program for many more years. I think it's very important," Bowen said.
Valentine said the past month has also been tough on non-profits that have come to rely on the work the seniors do.
"We have to stay positive and move forward and try to figure out how we're going to help these employees," Valentine said. "I believe we've got to come up with ways of restricted donations and foundations, and people coming together to value these programs."
