Senior Community Service Employment Program

All SCSEP operators in Alabama shall, to the extent feasible, establish and maintain cooperative relationships and working linkages with other employment and training programs, to include activities conducted under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and with affiliated agencies concerned with senior citizens.  A major objective of coordination is to avoid the duplication of services and expand employment opportunities for senior workers. It is also desirable to provide a variety of services and training opportunities that respond to the needs of senior workers by linking them with services and programs provided by the Area Agencies on Aging.

To make certain the State Plan is inclusive and as comprehensive as possible, organizations engaged in older worker activities and employment services for older workers were invited to provide information on their activities that would be pertinent to workforce development. Local senior worker programs will be encouraged to work collaboratively with One-Stop Centers to maximize the effectiveness of the training and placement process.

ADSS is a partner in the Workforce Investment Board’s delivery of workforce development services. Entities responsible for WIOA activities will continue collaborating to create a delivery system that enhances access to services and improves employment outcomes for individuals receiving those services.  SCSEP participants train at many of our One Stop Career Centers. Several of our SCSEP project directors are represented on the local boards.  The WIOA included SCSEP as a required partner in the One Stop delivery system to ensure older workers have access to information about the range of employment related services available to them.

An “umbrella” or “blanket” Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is being used to define the roles and responsibilities of the Career Center (One-Stop) partner agencies for the provision and improvement of employment and training services to Alabama citizens residing within the 65 county Alabama Workforce Investment Area (AWIA).  The MOU is between the Alabama Local Workforce Investment Board and the Career Center partners, including ADSS.  It establishes guidelines for the partners to create and maintain cooperative working relationships.  The blanket MOU, being more general in nature, works best to set direction while allowing flexibility.

The WIOA intends that all job seekers and persons looking to further their careers will be able to access the employment, education, training, and information services they need at Career Centers in their neighborhoods.  The Centers offer core services (available to all adults with no eligibility requirements), intensive services (available to those individuals who are unable to find jobs through core services alone), and training services.  In this age of limited resources, it is essential for programs to ensure they are not duplicating the efforts of others and are using funds in the most effective and efficient manner. Some of the ways our programs cooperate to provide the best employment services possible for the older population are through joint planning sessions, information sharing, recruitment, cross referral of training, joint training, and development of a network of community service providers for older persons.