For Immediate Release:
May 22, 2009

Contact:
Kit Wagar
Office of Public Information
573-751-6062

Missouri state officials announce nearly $2.8 million in federal funding to create jobs for seniors

Missouri will spend nearly $2.8 million over the next 14 months to help qualifying seniors find jobs, state officials said Friday.

Margaret Donnelly, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, announced the new funding during a pair of appearances in Springfield. Donnelly met with seniors who are participating in the program through jobs at Habitat for Humanity and the Brentwood branch of the Springfield-Greene County public library.

She also discussed the program with officials of Experience Works, a contractor who places seniors in jobs where they receive training and skills they can use to obtain full-time employment.

The program represents Missouri’s first non-highway funding to hit the streets from the federal stimulus package that became law last February. The new funding is expected to create about 300 new jobs for Missourians age 55 and older.

Missouri will receive $2.2 million in new federal money that will go directly to contractors who help place seniors in jobs. Another $586,706 in federal funds will go to the state, which will pass the money along to agencies that operate the program. Gov. Jay Nixon signed legislation authorizing the expenditure of those funds last week.

The program is formally known as Senior Community Service Employment Program. The program pays participants’ salaries while they are gaining work experience and on-the-job training. The average recipient spends 27 months in the program before moving into unsubsidized employment.

The program is designed to enable older job seekers to develop the skills and confidence to compete in the marketplace for unsubsidized jobs. The program also provides valuable services to the employers, who provide a wide variety of community services. Employers include day care centers, senior centers, schools and hospitals.

The program has taken on new importance in the wake of the economic downturn. The U.S. Department of Labor estimated that 24,000 Missouri residents age 55 and older were unemployed and looking for work in December 2008, up 14 percent from a year earlier.

Experience Works, which operates in 104 counties in Missouri, reported that the number of people 55 and older requesting assistance in finding work and training had jumped 35 percent in the last four months.

The state’s share of the new funding is expected to subsidize employment for 62 people. The funding sent directly to contractors is enough to put 237 people into on-the-job training.

The funding is part of $120 million included in the stimulus package for the senior jobs program nationwide.

Individuals aged 55 or older with incomes up to 125 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible to participate in the program.