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-- Programs and Services -- Contact Information "A path back to the workplace"
Age is an asset, experience a benefit
By Claire Cox
National “Employ Older Workers Week” beginning September 20, will have special meaning for Jim Brinnon, Barbara Palma, and Karen Ashbaugh. They are among a number of elders who are benefiting from the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) provided by Elder Services of Berkshire County, which trains men and women age 55 and older to return to the work place and then helps them find jobs.
Brinnon, a retired diesel truck mechanic who lives in Dalton, is learning office skills at the Lenox Town Hall, where he began training in March. Palma, a former seminary cook and home care worker, was promoted from trainee to an administrative job at HospiceCare in The Berkshires in Pittsfield. Ashbaugh, a former convenience store manager, drives to work from Great Barrington five days a week to polish her computer skills and help in the Hospice office.
Elder Services is proud to serve as a regional sponsor of SCSEP, a federally-funded, state-administered program that assists seniors in job matching, job training, and job placement. The program provides unemployed persons age 55 or older, who have limited financial resources and a desire to succeed, with the opportunity to overcome the biggest barrier to employment — lack of experience and training. After an initial assessment of job skills and financial eligibility, an individual can enroll for a two-week training period. Pending availability, the person may be offered an assignment ranging up to one year, working 20 hours a week with a participating community non-profit organization to gain valuable on-the-job work experience.
Roger Suters, Community Services Director of Elder Services, said that in the program’s early years, the focus was on guiding people to community service employment in nonprofit agencies. Since then the emphasis has changed to training and job placement. On-the-job training for individuals enrolled in this program is currently provided by a dozen agencies in the area, among them HospiceCare in the Berkshires, Girls Inc., Social Security Administration and Pittsfield Adult Day Health.
In addition to serving as a host agency for the program, the Pittsfield Council on Aging provides two weeks of job training and skills assessment to new program enrollees. Upon his recent completion of this training, Brinnon was assigned to the Town of Lenox, a new host agency, to work in various town offices five mornings a week. Another trainee is now a retail clerk at the Goodwill store in Pittsfield. Placement also has been made for secretaries at the North Berkshire Community Coalition in North Adams, at United Cerebral Palsy and the Ralph Froio Senior Center, both in Pittsfield. Matt Kut, at 86 the oldest person in the program, operates the historic Park Square popcorn wagon as a food concessionaire in downtown Pittsfield, with proceeds going to support Meals on Wheels.
“Help is also available for applicants who do not meet the age or income requirements for participation in the program,” explained Sam Lagrotteria, who joined the program two years ago as Job Developer. “We refer them to BerkshireWorks or to our list of job openings and try to match them with a job.” He added,. “About 90 percent or a little more of the people who get involved in the program are looking for training in technology and office-related skills.”
Lagrotteria, who formerly managed Blantyre in Lenox and served as the resident manager of the Wendell Hotel in Pittsfield, emphasized that any elder hoping to go back to work is welcome to call him at (413) 499-0524. Lagrotteria stressed, “We don’t want any older worker looking for a job to be discouraged from calling. We get many calls from people who are not eligible for the program, and we are very successful at helping those people.”
Suters looks forward to celebrating National Employ Older Workers Week, September 20 through 24, as an opportunity to recognize the many contributions of successful mature workers in Berkshire County and says that the Employ Older Workers week slogan “Age is an asset — Experience is a benefit” is an accurate statement.
As for Palma and Ashbaugh, they feel that every day the program is a celebration for them. “It’s a blessing to me because it allows me the freedom to have a little life, where a lot of jobs don’t,” Ashbaugh said. “This is a Monday through Friday thing, which I love.” To this, Palma added: “I would have been lost without this program.”