 June 22, 2006 To Senators on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: We wish to thank the Committee for its work to maintain the dual mission of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). As you know, SCSEP participants get valuable on-the-job experience working as paid adjunct staff in many agencies that serve older adults and the general community. SCSEP participants enable thousands of community and faith-based organizations to provide services that would not otherwise be available to other seniors, children and the general public. For this reason, we are deeply concerned by the language in H.R. 5293 that, for the first time, would establish that a minimum of 50% of SCSEP participant hours would have to be spent in community service in nonprofit and government agencies. Currently, according to the USDOL website, almost 98% of the total SCSEP participant hours are spent in community service employment. While the intent of this provision is to encourage a minimum amount of hours of community services, our fear is that this new threshold will be viewed as a target that could dramatically erode the current level of SCSEP participants providing community services. If the hours for community service drop to 50% from their current level, this would mean social service agencies would lose about 23 million staff hours per year. The cost to replace these SCSEP participants with other staff or volunteers would be staggering. Furthermore, the disruptive impact on services would be extensive. We urge the Senate to establish a minimum of 90% of all SCSEP participant hours to be spent on community service. By adopting this language, the Committee would ensure that these agencies do not suffer a radical staff cut in SCSEP participants that could further impair our nation’s capacity to serve the growing numbers of older Americans and the community as a whole. Sincerely, Alliance for Retired Americans |