THE DECEMBER 1977 PROFILE OF THE SENIOR COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT

ENROLLMENT, TERMINATIONS, AND PLACEMENT RESULTS

Within

During the first half (7/1/77-12/31/77) of the current contract period, a total of 3,699 older workers participated in the Senior Community Service Project. As is demonstrated in Table 1 below, the program enrolled 1,715 older economically disadvantaged persons during this period and at the end of 1977 (December 31, 1977) 3,143 older workers were currently enrolled. the same period, 550 persons left the program and 193 of those were terminations for unsubsidized jobs. Consequently, the unsubsidized placement rate as a percentage of all terminations during the first half of the contract period was 35%. The other terminations typically included ill health, moves from the area, terminations to care for other family members and resignations.

LOCAL SUBGRANTEES AND WORKSITES

The SCSP consists of 48 local subgrantees in 20 states and the total number of DOL authorized slots is 3,288.

However, the enrollment on December

31, 1977 is somewhat less than the number of authorized slots because the local subgrantee in Key West, Florida is not included due to insufficient enrollment as of December 31, 1977. The local subgrantee with the highest number of authorized slots or enrollee positions is the New York City Department for the Aging with a total of 224 authorized slots while the subgrantee with the lowest number of enrollee positions is the Human Resource Bureau of Portland, Oregon which has 20 authorized slots.

The total number of participating worksites or host agencies in the The local subgrantee with the highest number program is approximately 1,239.

of such agencies is Champlain Valley Work & Training Program of Winoski, Vermont

with approximately 84 host agencies or worksites.

PARTICIPANT JOBS AND SERVICES TO THE COMMUNITY

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On December 31, 1977 almost three-fifths (58%) of the participants were providing services to the elderly community as can be observed in Figure 1 on This finding demonstrates that the SCSP is meeting a major program objective of providing jobs in which most of the participants will be serving the elderly poor. At the same time, a little over two-fifths (424) were performing jobs which serve individuals of all age groups.

Table 2 demonstrates that within the elderly community, over a quarter (26%) of the participants are providing outreach and referral services to those elderly persons who are physically and/or socially isolated and who are either unaware or unable to obtain the various services available. Exactly one-fifth (20%) are performing jobs related to nutrition which is another service in great demand by the elderly poor and less than one-fifth (17%) are working in recreational programs and senior centers. Many (7%) of the participants are offering transportation services to those elderly poor in need while an equal number of participants are providing home repair services (5%) to elderly persons and performing clerical and administrative jobs (5%) at the local subgrantee office. Finally, 3% of those working in the elderly community are involved in employment assistance and the remaining 98 are employed in various other types of occupations which serve the elderly community.

As is also exemplified by Table 2, the typical participant (28%) working

in the general community was employed by a program or agency providing social

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services. These agencies consist of Employment Security Offices, Welfare

Agencies, Vocational Counseling and Rehabilitation Offices, Social Security Offices, Community Development/Outreach Service Offices and others. Participants in these social service agencies assume a variety of job tasks and assignments such as casework, information and referral, interviewing and recruitment, counseling, conducting home visits, clerical work, etc. Casework is realted to social work and the participant in this mle is assigned to a specific client (s) to assist them in obtaining the type of services needed through the social services agencies. Information and referral involves the dissemination of information about programs and existing resources of potential interest. Counseling consists of providing individual or group consultation and guidance to individuals seeking assistance. When conducting home visits the participants are attempting to establish a more effective ongoing relationship between the social service agency and the client, assessing the client's needs for various social services, and providing information relevant to available services.

As is further indicated in Table 2, over a quarter (27%) of the participants working in the general community were employed as subprofessionals in nurseries, kindergartens, elementary, and secondary schools while almost an eighth (11.98) were working as assistants in public and private hospitals, community mental health centers, and other health-related programs and agencies. Six percent were providing transportation services and almost the same number vere employed in recreation (5.7%) and housing/home rehabilitation programs (5.5%). Finally, the remaining participants were involved in employment assistance (1.38), anti-pollution and environmental projects (1.38) and a